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PRACTICAL INSTRUCTION 



IN 



ANIMAL MAGNETISM 

BY J. P? F. DEUEUZE. 

ci__ 



TRANSLATED FROM THE PARIS EDITION 

BY THOMAS C. HARTSHORN. 





Second € & i t i a n • 



PROVIDENCE : 

B. CRANSTON & CO 

1837. 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand 
eight hundred and thirty-seven, by B. Cranston & Co. in the Clerk's 
Office of the District Court of the District of Rhode-Island. 



INTRODUCTION. 



Seveiial persons have requested me to publish upon the 
subject of magnetism, plain and simple instructions, free 
from all theory, and proper in all cases to direct those who 
are convinced of the reality of the agent, and who are at a 
loss how to make use of it. I am now going to fulfil this 
task, solely with the view of being useful. 

It is not the object of this work to convince men who, 
otherwise well informed, still doubt the reality of magnetism; 
it is intended chiefly for those who are not engaged in 
medicine, physiology, or physics', who believe upon oral 
testimony, without having seen any person magnetized, and 
who, being persuaded that I know more than themselves 
upon the subject, wish to try my method in order to succeed, 
as I have had the happiness of doing, in healing and ameli- 
orating the ills of their fellow-creatures. I shall lay down 
principles which I believe true, without entering into any 
discussion to prove their truth. I shall avoid pronouncing 
upon that which appears doubtful; and if I err v 
of explaining things, my errors, apr 
theory which I have adopted to 

reK^ : ngr them to the samr 

tion of tiiv^ ans to v 

and derive ad 



IV INTRODUCTION. 

facts in support of my doctrine. I shall limit myself to the 
citing of a few of those which I have myself observed, 
whenever examples shall appear necessary to the better 
understanding of my subject. 

For the purpose of obtaining a more orderly arrangement, 
T shall divide this instruction into chapters. 

I shall first lay down certain principles, in order to make 
my instructions more plain and simple. If my manner of 
announcing these principle be somewhat hypothetical, there 
can be no change in the results. Thus, I shall employ the 
expression magnetic fluid, because I believe in the existence 
of a fluid, the nature of which is unknown to me ; but those 
who deny the existence of this fluid, who compare the 
action of magnetism in living beings, to that of attraction in 
inanimate bodies, or who admit a spiritual influence without 
a particular agent, cannot, on that account, contradict the 
consequences to which I shall arrive. The knowledge of 
the processes and of all the conditions necessary for the 
efficient use of magnetism, is independent of the opinions 
which serve to explain the phenomena, and of which, up to 
the present time, none are susceptible of demonstration. 

My first chapter shall contain an enunciation of the prin- 
ciples which are general and applicable to all cases. 

In the second chapter, I shall teach the various processes 
u *re employed in magnetizing, when somnambulism 

"eak of the indications which the 

'V the choice of processes 

nation conc^^g tne 
^cusm may be 

^tic virtue to 



INTRODUCTION. V 

certain bodies, or by patting magnetism in motion and circu- 
lation, so that several persons may at the same time experi- 
ence the action, under the direction of one magnetizer. 

In the fifth, I shall treat of somnambulism, and of the 
manner of proceeding with somnambulists. 

In the sixth, I shall speak of the precautions which the 
patient ought to take in choosing a magnetizer. 

In the seventh, of the application of magnetism to various 
diseases, and of its association with medicine. 

In the eighth, of the dangers of magnetism, and of the 
means of preventing them. 

In the ninth, of the methods of developing and fortifying 
in one's self the magnetic power, and of drawing from it all 
the advantages possible. 

In the tenth and last, I shall speak of the studies which 
are appropriate to those who wish to acquire a profound 
k: ov/ledge of magnetism. 

Persons who read these ten chapters in course, will ob- 
serve that some things said in the first are repeated in the 
others, in almost the same terms. I would have avoided 
these repetitions, if I considered my work as a literary 
production. I have left them thus, that those who consult 
only one article, may find all the advice relative to the 
subject in question, without my being obliged to refer him 
to what has been already said. 

If in some places I permit myself to speak in a dogmatic 
style, it is not because I hold my own opinions in too great 
esteem ; it is merely for the purpose of being more clear 
and precise, and of not leaving in uncertainty whoever 
shall consent to take me for a guide. No person feels the 
imperfection of the work more than myself, since there 



VI INTRODUCTION. 

must be in it many omissions. I will receive with gratitude 
any critical observations addressed to me, and will profit 
by them in the correction of my faults, and in adding to my 
second edition whatever may appear to be wanted in this 
first essay. 

Among the men who have devoted themselves to the 
practice of magnetism, there is a great number who have 
more intelligence and more knowledge than myself. I have 
a lively desire that the reading of this work may determine 
them to execute the plan I proposed to myself, better than 
I have been able to do it. I invite them to take from my 
instructions all that appears to them worthy of being pre- 
served, and not to quote me except to rectify the errors 
which may have escaped my diligence. Our wish is to do 
good. This wish unites us, it identifies us, so to speak, 
one with another. When success is obtained, let us enjoy 
it equally, whoever may be the author of it. It is possible 
for self-love to be gratified in the discovery of a truth, but 
never in having done good deeds. 

A physician who has already become celebrated, would 
perhaps increase his reputation, by publishing a good work 
upon magnetism. He would call attention to an order of 
phenomena which belongs to animated nature ; he would 
found a school ; he would find disciples among his brethren 
in the profession. This kind of success is impossible for 
us. Our adversaries condemn us without examination, and 
they exercise a great influence upon public opinion. We 
have no partisans except among those to whom we have 
rendered service, and the greater part of them dare not 
raise their voice. Happily their number increases every 
day ; and that should sustain our courage and our hopes. 
Let us continue, then, to work in concert, to spread abroad 



INTRODUCTION. VU 

the knowledge of magnetism, without disputation, without 
fear, and without the spirit of system. Let us banish the 
abuses and the dangers which may attend the use of it* 
Let us collect the materials of a*beneficent science. The 
time will arrive when a man of genius will reunite all these 
materials, and rear an edifice which time cannot overthrow.* 



* This was written in 1825. Since that time, in 1831, the Royal 
Academy of Medicine, through their committee, whose report is 
worthy of study as a model of accurate philosophical investigation, 
pronounced upon the subject an opinion, which has changed the 
popular feeling in France in relation to it. Its existence, as a pe- 
culiar faculty of the human mind, is no longer a matter of question 
among men of science who have witnessed its phenomena. The 
extent of its utility is now a question worthy of profound investiga- 
tion, and not to be settled by men who never think, and who decide 
without looking into its merits. The evidences in favor of its utility 
are so abundant in European works of high authority, that an igno- 
rance of its true history, which is not to be found in the Encyclo- 
pedias, may be deemed singular in men of good information ; and 
disgraceful, if they suffer themselves to oppose it through incurious 
prejudice. In this vicinity, it receives the support of medical prac- 
titioners of unquestionable skill. It should always be in the hands 
of such, or administered under their direction. To promote this 
object, and to recal the public attention from the curious phenomena 
to the true use of it, the translator has given the instructions of the 
venerable Deleuze an English dress. 

A* 



ANIMAL MAGNETISM. 



CHAPTER I. 

GENERAL VIEWS AND PRINCIPLES. 

1. Man has the faculty of exercising over his fellow- 
men a salutary influence, in directing towards them by his 
will, the vital principle. 

2. The name of magnetism has been given to this facul- 
ty ; it is an extension of the power which all living beings 
have, of acting upon those who are submitted to their will. 

3. We perceive this faculty only by the results ; and 
we make no use of it, except as far as we will to use it. 

4. The first condition of action, then, is to exercise the 
will. 

5. As we cannot comprehend how a body can act upon 
another at a distance, without there being something to 
establish a communication between them, we suppose that 
a substance emanates from him who magnetizes, and is 
conveyed to the person magnetized, in the direction given it 
by the will. This substance, which sustains life in us, we 
call the magnetic fluid. The nature of this fluid is unknown; 
even its existence has not been demonstrated ; but every 
thing occurs as if it did exist, and that warrants us in ad- 



10 GENERAL VIEWS AND PRINCIPLES. [CHAP. I. 

mitting it, while we are indicating the means of employing 
magnetism. 

6. Man is composed of a body and a soul ; and the 
influence he exerts, participates the properties of both. It 
follows that there are three actions in magnetism : first, 
physical ; second, spiritual ; third, mixt action. It will soon 
be seen how easy it is to distinguish the phenomena which 
belong to each. 

7. If the will is necessary to direct the fluid, belief is 
necessary to induce one to make a firm and steady use of 
the faculties he possesses. Confidence in the power we 
possess, makes us act without effort and without distraction. 
As to the rest, confidence is only the consequence of belief: 
it differs in this only — one believes himself to be endowed 
with a power, whose reality he does not doubt. 

8. In order that one individual may act upon another, 
there must e£ist between them a moral and physical sym- 
pathy ; as there is between all the members of an animated 
body. Physical sympathy is established by means which 
we shall indicate ; moral sympathy by the desire of doing 
good to one who desires to receive it ; or by ideas and 
wishes which, occupying them both equally, forms between 
them a communication of sentiments. When this sympathy 
is well established between two individuals, we say, they 
are in communication. 

9. Thus the first condition of magnetizing is the will ; 
the second is the confidence which the magnetizer has in 
his own powers ; the third is benevolence, or the desire of 
doing good. One of these qualities may supply the others 
to a certain point ; but to have the action at the same 
time energetic and salutary, the three conditions must be 
united. 



CHAP. I,] GENERAL VIEWS AND PRINCIPLES. 11 

10. The magnetic fluid may not only act directly upon 
the person whom we wish to magnetize, but it may also be 
conveyed to him by an intermediate body, which we have 
charged with this fluid, to which we have given a determi- 
nate direction. 

11. The direct action of magnetism ceases when the 
magnetizer ceases to will ; but the direction given by mag- 
netism does not cease in that case, and the most trifling cir- 
cumstance sometimes suffices to renew the phenomena which 
it first produced. 

12. A constant will supposes continued attention ; but 
attention is sustained without effort when one has entire 
confidence in his powers. A man who makes towards a 
designated goal, is always attentive to avoid obstacles, to 
move his feet in a proper direction ; but this sort of attention 
is so natural to him as to be easy, because he has first 
determined his movement, and feels in himself the 'force 
necessary to continue it. 

13. The action of the magnetic fluid, being relative to 
the direction given it, will not be salutary only so far as it 
is accompanied with a good intention. 

14. Magnetism, or the action of magnetism, springs from 
three things ; first, the will to act ; second, a sign, the 
expression of that will : third, confidence in the means 
employed. If the desire of doing good be not united to the 
will to act, there will be some effects, but these effects-will 
be irregular. 

15. The fluid which emanates from the magnetizer, 
exercising a physical influence upon the patient, it follows 
that the magnetizer ought to be in good health. This 
influence exerting, in the course of time, an effect upon the 
moral condition of the patient, it follows that the magnetizer 



12 GENERAL VIEWS AND PRINCIPLES. [CHAP. la 

ought to be worthy of esteem for the uprightness of his 
mind, the purity of his sentiments, and the honesty of his 
character. The knowledge of this principle is equally 
important for those who magnetize, and for those who are 
the subjects of magnetism. 

16. The faculty of magnetizing exists in all persons ; 
but all do not possess it in the same degree. This difference 
of magnetic power in various individuals, arises from the 
superiority which some have over others, in moral and 
physical qualities. Among the moral qualities, are, confi- 
dence in one's own power, energy of will, facility in sustain- 
ing and concentrating the attention, the sentiment of benev- 
olence which unites us to every suffering being, strength of 
mind enabling one to remain calm in the midst of the most 
alarming crises, patience which prevents uneasiness in a 
long and painfjul struggle, disinterestedness which makes 
one forget himself and devote himself to the being whom he 
attends, and which banishes vanity and even curiosity. Of 
physical qualifications, the first is good health, the next a 
peculiar power, different from that which raises burthens 
or moves heavy bodies, and of which we recognise the 
existence and the degree of energy in ourselves, only by 
the trial we make of it. 

17. Therefore there are men who have a magnetic 
power very superior to that of others. It is so great in 
some persons, that they are obliged to moderate it. 

18. The magnetic virtue developes itself by exercise, 
and a person uses it with more facility and success, when 
he has acquired the habit of exerting it. 

19. Although the magnetic fluid escapes from all the 
body, and the will suffices to give it direction, the external 



CHAP. I.] GENERAL VIEWS AND PRINCIPLES. 13 

organs by which we act are the most proper to throw it off 
with the intention determined by the will. For this reason 
we make use of our hands and of our eyes to magnetize. 
The word which indicates our will, can often exert an ac- 
tion when the communication is well established. The very 
accents of the magnetizer being produced by the vital ener- 
gy, acts upon the organs of the patients. 

20. The magnetic action can be conveyed to very great 
distances, but it acts in that manner only with persons who 
are perfectly in communication. 

21. All men are not sensible to the magnetic action ; 
and the same persons are more or less so, according to the 
temporary dispositions in which they are found. 

22. Magnetism generally exercises no influence upon 
persons in health. The same man w r ho was insensible 
to it in a state of good health, will experience the effects of 
it when ill. There are diseases in which the action of 
magnetism is not perceived ; there are others in which it is 
evident. We do not yet know enough of- it to determine 
tlse cause of these anomalies, nor to pronounce beforehand, 
whether magnetism will or w r ill not act. We have only 
certain probabilities in regard to it ; but that should not 
create an objection to the reality of magnetism, since at 
least three-fourths of the patients feel the effects of it. 

22. Nature has established a communion or a physical 
sympathy between certain individuals. It is for this reason 
that many magnetizers act much more promptly and more 
efficaciously upon certain patients than upon others; and 
that the same magnetizer does not agree equally with all 
patients. There are even some of them who are better 
calculated to heal certain diseases. Some persons think 



14 GENERAL VIEWS AND PRINCIPLES. [CHAP. I. 

themselves insensible to the action of magnetism, because 
they have not met a magnetizer congenial to them. 

23. The magnetic virtue exists equally and in the same 
degree in the two sexes ; and women ought to be preferred 
as magnetizers of women, for several reasons which we shall 
mention. 

24. Many persons feel much fatigue when they magnet- 
ize ; others do not feel any. This is not owing to the 
movements that are made, but to the loss of the vital prin- 
ciple or magnetic fluid. He who is not endowed with great 
magnetic force, would exhaust himself in the course of time 
if he were to magnetize every day for several hours. Gen- 
erally speaking, every one in good health and not enfeebled 
by age, might undertake the treatment of a single patient, 
and give him a sitting of one hour each day. But every 
one has not the" strength necessary for magnetizing several 
persons, nor several hours in succession. As to the rest, 
the more one exercises himself in it, the less he is fatigued ; 
because he employs only just as much force as is necessary. 

.25. Children over seven years of age magnetize very 
well, when they have witnessed the operation. They act 
by imitation, with an entire confidence, with a determined 
will, without effort, without being distracted by the least 
doubt, or by curiosity, and they very well and very quickly 
remove a casual ailment. They learn to magnetize as they 
learn to walk, and they are moved by the desire of soothing 
him for whom they have an affection ; but they ought not 
to be permitted to do it, because it would injure their growth 
and weaken them. 

26. Confidence, which is an essential condition with 
the magnetizer, is not necessary in the person magnetized. 



CHAP. I.] GENERAL VIEWS AND PRINCIPLES. 15 

One can act equally upon those who believe, and upon those 
who do not believe in magnetism. It suffices if the patient 
yields himself up passively, making no resistance. Never- 
theless confidence contributes to the efficaciousness of mag- 
netism, as it does to that of most remedies. 

27. In general, magnetism acts in a more sensible and 
efficacious manner upon persons who have led a simple and 
frugal life, and who have not been agitated by passions, 
than upon those with w T hom the course of nature has been 
troubled, either by habits of luxury, or by remedies. Mag- 
netism does no more than to employ, regulate, and direct 
the forces of nature. The more the course of nature has 
been interrupted by foreign agents, the more difficult it is 
for the magnetizer to re-establish it. Magnetism, therefore, 
cures much more promptly and much better, persons who 
reside in the country, and children, than those who have 
lived in the world, who have taken much medicine, and 
whose nerves are irritated. Nervous persons, when mag- 
netism has once gained empire over them, present the most 
singular phenomena, but much fewer cures, especially radi- 
cal cures. 

28. Magnetism having for its object the developement of 
what physicians call the forces medicatrices, that is to say, 
the seconding of the efforts that nature makes to relieve 
itself, and the facilitating of the cures to which it is disposed, 
it is essential to act with constancy in aid of nature, and 
never to oppose it. Whence it follows that people ought 
not to magnetize through curiosity, nor to exhibit the power 
with which they are endowed, nor to produce surprising 
effects, nor to convince the incredulous ; but solely for the 
purpose of doing good, and in cases where it is thought to 

b* 



16 GENERAL VIEWS AND PRINCIPLES. [CHAP. I. 

be useful. It follows also that the magnetizer ought to em- 
ploy his power gradually, and by little and little. He ought 
to be exempt from vanity, from curiosity, from interest. 
One only sentiment ought to animate him, the desire of do- 
ing good to him whose cure he undertakes, and with whom 
he ought to occupy himself wholly, all the time he is mag- 
netising him. He ought not to search out any extraordi- 
nary effect, but to know how to take advantage of the cri- 
ses which nature, sustained by magnetism, produces of itself 
for promoting the cure. 

29. Although the choice of this or of that process is 
not essential in order to direct the action of magnetism, it 
is useful to adopt a method, and to follow it habitually 
without thinking of it, so as never to be embarassed, and 
to lose time in searching what motions it is most proper to 
make. 

30. When one has acquired the habit of concentrating 
his attention, and of abstracting himself from every thing 
foreign to the object he has in view, he will feel in himself 
an instinctive impulse to convey the action to this or to that 
organ, and to modify it according to circumstances. It 
is necessary to obey this impulse, without searching into 
the cause of it. When the patient yields himself entirely 
to the action of magnetism, without being distracted by 
other ideas, it often happens that a similar instinct causes 
him to indicate the processes which are the most proper 
for him ; the magnetizer should then suffer himself to be 
directed. 

31. Magnetism often excites pain in that part of the 
body where the seat of the disease is found. It renews old 
and slumbering pains. These pains are produced by the 



CHAP. I.] GENERAL VIEWS AND PRINCIPLES. 17 

efforts which nature makes to triumph over the malady. 
We ought not to be troubled on their account; 1 they are but 
transient, and the patient always finds himself better after 
having experienced them. This is what distinguishes the 
pains which are called critical, from those which are pro- 
duced by the progress of the disease. 

32. When any crisis takes place, it is very danger- 
ous to interrupt or trouble it. We will explain what 
we mean by crises, and designate the various kinds of 
them. 

33. Before undertaking a magnetic treatment, the mag- 
netizer ought to examine himself. He ought to ask himself 
whether he can continue it, and whether the patient or those 
who have influence over him, will put any obstacle in the 
way. He ought not to undertake it if he feels any repug- 
nance, or if he fears to catch the disease. To act effica- 
ciously, he should feel himself drawn towards the person 
who requires his care, take an interest in him, and have the 
desire and the hope of curing, or at least relieving him. 
As soon as he has decided, which he should never do lightly, 
he ought to consider him whom he magnetizes as his brother, 
as his friend ; he should be so devoted to him as not to 
perceive the sacrifices that he imposes upon himself. Any 
other consideration, any other motive than the desire of do- 
ing good, ought not to induce him to undertake a treat- 
ment. 

34. The faculty of magnetizing, or that of doing good 
to our fellow-creatures by the influence of the will, by the 
communication of the principle that sustains our health and 
life, being the most delightful and most precious that God 
has given to man, he ought to regard the employment of 



18 GENERAL VIEWS AND PRINCIPLES. [CHAP. ' I. 

magnetism as a religious act, which demands the greatest 
self-collectedness, and the greatest purity of intention. — 
Hence it is a sort of profanation to magnetize for amuse- 
ment, through curiosity, or through the desire of displaying 
singular effects. They who demand experiments to see a 
spectacle, know not what they demand ; but the magnetizer 
ought to know it, to respect himself, and to preserve his 
dignity. 



CHAPTER II. 

OF THE PROCESSES IN ANIMAL MAGNETISM. 

The principles we have given in the preceding chapter 
are essential, invariable ; and, in all cases, the power and 
efficacy of magnetism depends upon their application. The 
processes of which w T e are about to speak, are not alike 
employed by all magnetizers. Many of them follow pe- 
culiar ones ; but, whatever method they pursue, the results 
are nearly the same. The processes, however, ought to be 
diversified according to circumstances. We are often de- 
termined in the choice, not only by the kind of disease, but 
by a regard to convenience and other circumstances, and 
even by the desire of avoiding what might appear extraor- 
dinary. What I am about to say, is useless to persons who 
have acquired the habit of magnetizing. Let them continue 
to follow the method which has constantly issued in the com- 
forting or the curing* of their patients, I write for those 
who, not yet knowing any thing about it, are embarrassed 
in the exercise of a faculty whose existence they do not 
doubt ; and I am about to teach them the manner of mag- 
izing which I adopted after having received instruction, and 
after having collected and made observations during thirty- 
five years. 

* I add the words comforting and curing, because every method 
having for its object the production of surprising effeets s or to show 
the power of the magnetizer, is essentially vicious. 



20 OF THE PROCESSES [CHAP. IT. 

When a sick person desires you to attempt to cure him by 
magnetism, and neither the family nor the physician make 
objection to it, if you feel the desire to second his wishes, 
and are resolved to continue the treatment so long as it shall 
be necessary, settle with him the hour of the sittings, make 
him promise to be exact, not to limit himself to an attempt 
of a few days, to conform himself to your advice in relation 
to regimen, and not to speak of the undertaking except to 
persons who ought naturally to be informed of it. 

When you are once agreed, and determined to treat the 
thing seriously, remove from the patient all persons who 
would be troublesome ; do not keep near you any except 
necessary witnesses, (one only, if it can be so,) and request 
of them not to occupy themselves at all with the processes 
you employ, nor with the effects that follow, but to unite 
with you in the intention of doing good to the patient. Ar- 
range things so as not to be too cold nor too warm, so that 
nothing shall interfere with the freedom of your movements, 
and take precautions to prevent all interruptions during the 
sitting. 

Cause your patient to sit down in the easiest position pos- 
sible, and place yourself before" him, on a seat a little more 
elevated, so that his knees may be between yours, and your 
feet by the side of his. Demand of him in the first place, 
that he give himself up entirely, that he think of nothing, 
that he do not trouble himself by examining the effects 
which he experiences, that he banish all fear, and indulge 
hope, and that he be not disquieted or discouraged if the ac- 
tion of magnetism produces in him temporary pains. 

After you have brought yourself to a state of self-collect- 
edness, take his thumbs between your two fingers, so that 
the inside of your thumbs may touch the inside of his. Re- 



CHAP. II.] IN ANIMAL MAGNETISM. 21 

main in this situation five minutes, or until you perceive 
there is an equal degree of heat between your thumbs and 
his; that being done, you will withdraw your hands, re- 
moving them to the right and left, and waving them so that 
the interior surface be turned outwards, and raise them to 
his head ; then place them upon his two shoulders, leaving 
them there about a minute ; you will then draw them along 
the arm to the extremity of the fingers, touching lightly. 
You will repeat this pass* five or six times, always turning 
your hands and sweeping them off a little, before reascend- 
ing ; you will then place your hands upon the head, hold 
them there a moment, and bring them down before the face, 
at the distance of one or two inches, as far as the pit of the 
stomach ; there you will let them remain about two min- 
utes, passing the thumb along the pit of the stomach, and 
the other fingers down the sides. Then descend slowly 
along the body as far as the knees, or farther ; and, if you 
can conveniently, as far as the ends of the feet. You may 
repeat the same processes during the greater part of the 
sitting. You may sometimes draw nearer to the patient so 
as to place your hands behind his shoulders, descending 
slowly along the spine, thence to the hips, and along the 
thighs as far as the knees, or to the feet. After the first 
passes you may dispense with putting your hands upon the 
head, and make the succeeding passes along the arms be- 
ginning at the shoulder ; or along the body commencing at 
the stomach. 

When you wish to put an end to the sitting, take care to 
draw towards the extremity of the hands, and towards the 

* I employ here the word pass, which is common to all magnet- 
izers ; it signifies all the movements made by the hand in passing 
over the body, whether by slightly touching, or at a distance. 



22 OF THE PROCESSES [CHAP. II. 

extremity of the feet, prolonging your passes beyond these 
extremities, and shaking your fingers each time. Finally, 
make several passes transversely before the face, and also 
before the breast, at the distance of three or four inches ; 
these passes are made by presenting the two hands together 
and briskly drawing them from each other, as if to carry off 
the superabundance of fluid with which the patient may be 
charged. You see that it is essential to magnetize, always 
descending from the head to the extremities, and never 
mounting from the extremities to the head. It is on this 
account that we turn the hands obliquely when they are 
raised again from the feet to the head. The descending 
passes are magnetic ; that is, they are accompanied with 
the intention of magnetizing. The ascending movements 
are not. Majiy magnetizers shake their fingers slightly 
after each pass. This method, which is never injurious, is 
in certain cases advantageous, and for this reason it is good 
to get the habit of doing it. 

Although you may have at the close of the sitting taken 
care to spread the fluid over all the surface of the body, it is 
proper, in finishing, to make several passes along the legs 
from the knees to the end of the feet. These passes free 
the head. To make them more conveniently, place your- 
self on your knees in front of the person whom you are mag- 
netizing. 

I think it proper to distinguish the passes that are made 
without touching, from those which are made with the touch, 
not only with the ends of the fingers, but with all the extent 
of the hand, employing at the same time a slight pressure. 
I give to these last the name of magnetic frictions. They 
are often made use of to act better upon the arms, the legs, 
and the back, along the vertebral column. 



CHAP. II.] IN ANIMAL MAGNETISM. 23 

This manner of magnetizing by longitudinal passes, 
directing the fluid from the head to the extremities, without 
fixing upon any part in preference to others, is called mag- 
netizing by the long pass, (magnetiser a grands courans). 
It is more or less proper in all cases, and it is requisite to 
employ it in the first sitting, when there is no special reason 
for using any other. The fluid is thus distributed into all 
the organs, and it accumulates naturally in those which have 
need of it. Besides the passes made at a short distance, 
others are made, just before finishing, at the distance of two 
or three feet. They generally produce a calm, refreshing, 
and pleasurable sensation. 

There is one more process by which it is very advan- 
tageous to terminate the sitting. It consists in placing one's 
self by the side of the patient, as he stands up, and, at the 
distance of a foot, making with both hands, one before the 
body and the other behind, seven or eight passes, commenc- 
ing above the head and descending to the floor, along which 
the hands are spread apart. This process frees the head, 
re-establishes the equilibrium, and imparts strength. 

When the magnetizer acts upon the patient, they are said 
to be in communication, (rapport). That is to say, we mean 
by the word communication, a peculiar and induced condi- 
tion, which causes the magnetizer to exert an influence upon 
the patient, there being between them a communication of 
the vital principle. 

This communication is sometimes established very soon, 
and sometimes after a long trial. This depends upon the 
moral and physical conditions of the two individuals. It is 
rare not to have it established at the first sitting. Experi- 
enced magnetizers generally perceive it in themselves when 

this takes place. 
c 



24 OF THE PROCESSES [CHAP. II. 

When once the communication is well established, the 
action is renewed in the succeeding sittings, at the instant of 
beginning to magnetize. Then if you wish to act upon the 
breast, the stomach, or the abdomen, there is no utility in 
touching, provided it is not found more convenient. Ordi- 
narily magnetism acts as well and even better in the interior 
of the body, at the distance of one or two inches, than by 
the touch. It is enough at the commencement of the sitting 
to take the thumbs a moment. Sometimes it is necessary 
to magnetize at the distance of several feet. Magnetism 
at a distance is more soothing, and some nervous persons 
cannot bear any other. 

In making the passes it is unnecessary to employ any 
greater muscular force than what is required to lift the 
band aad prevent it from falling. The movements should 
be easy and not too rapid. A pass from the head to the 
feet may take about half a minute. The fingers ought to 
be a little separated from each other, and slightly bent, so 
that the ends of the fingers be directed towards the person 
magnetized. 

It is by the ends of the fingers, and especially by the 
thumbs, that the fluid escapes with the most activity. For 
this reason it is, we take the thumbs of the patient in the 
first place, and hold them whenever we are at rest. This 
process generally suffices. to establish the communication; 
to strengthen which there is also one other process. It 
consists in placing your ten fingers against those of the 
patient, so that the inside of your hands are brought near to 
the inside of his, and the fleshy part of your fingers touch 
the fleshy parts of his, the nails being outwards. The fluid 
seems to flow less copiously from the back of the hands 
than from the inside ; and this is one of the reasons for 



/ 



CHAP. II.] IN ANIMAL MAGNETISM. 25 

turning the hands in raising them, without carrying them 
off too far from the body. 

The processes I have now indicated, are the most regular 
and advantageous for magnetism by the long pass, but it is 
far from being always proper, or even possible to employ 
them. When a man magnetizes a woman, even if it were 
his sister, it might not be proper to place himself before her 
in the manner described ; and also when a patient is obliged 
to keep his bed, it would be impossible to make him sit, in 
order to sit in front of him. 

In the first case, you can place yourself by the side of 
the person whom you wish to magnetize. First, take the 
thumbs, and, the better to establish the communication, 
place one hand upon the stomach, and the other upon the 
back, then lower the two hands opposite to each other, one 
down the back and the other at a distance down the forepart 
be body, one hand descending to the feet. You may 
magnetize the two arms, one after the other, with one hand 
only. 

In case the patient cannot raise himself, take your station 
near his bed in the most convenient manner ; take his 
thumbs, make several passes along the arms, and, if he 
can support himself upright, several along the back ; then, 
not to fatigue yourself, use only one hand, placing it upon 
the stomach, and making longitudinal passes, at first slightly 
touching through the clothes, then at a distance. You can 
hold one hand fixed upon the knees or upon the feet, while 
the other is in motion. Finish by passes along the legs, 
and by transversal passes before the head, the breast, and 
the stomach, to scatter the superabundant fluid. When the 
communication is established, one can magnetize very well 
by placing himself at the foot of the patient's bed, and in 



26 OF THE PROCESSES [CHAP. II. 

front of him ; then directing at that distance both hands 
from the head to the feet, dashing them aside after each 
pass, so as not to conduct the fluid to himself. I have pro- 
duced somnambulism by this process, without establishing 
the communication by touching. 

This is what I have to say about magnetism by the long 
pass, with which it is always proper to commence, and to 
which a person may confine himself until he has a reason 
for employing other processes. 

Let us now consider the circumstances which point out 
particular processes. 

When any one has a local pain, it is natural, after estab- 
lishing a communication, to carry the magnetic action to 
the suffering part. It is not by passing the hands over the 
arms that we undertake to cure a sciatic ; it is not by putting 
the hand upon^the stomach that we can dissipate a pain hi 
the knee. Here are some principles to guide us. 

The magnetic fluid, when motion is given to it, draws 
along with it the blood, the humors, and the cause of the 
complaint. For example, if one has the headache, owing 
to the tendency of the blood to the head, if the forehead be 
hot and the feet very cold, by making a few passes from 
the head to the feet, and others along the legs, the head is 
relieved, and the feet become warm. If one has a pain in 
the shoulder, and the magnetizer makes passes from the 
shoulder to the end of the fingers, the pain will descend with 
the hand ; it stops sometimes at the elbow, or at the wrist, 
and goes off by the hands, in which a slight perspiration 
is perceived ; before it is entirely dissipated, a pain is 
sometimes felt in the lower part of the bowels. Magnetism 
seems to chase away and bear off with it what disturbs the 
equilibrium, and its action ceases when the equilibrium is 



CHAP. II.] IN ANIMAL MAGNETISM. 27 

restored. It is useless to search out the .causes of these 
facts, it is sufficient that experience has established them, 
for us to conduct ourselves accordingly, when we have no 
reason to do otherwise. 

The following rules, with some exceptions, may thence 
be established. 

Accumulate and concentrate the magnetic fluid upon the 
suffering part ; then draw off the pain towards the extrem- 
ities. 

For example, do you desire to cure a pain in the shoul- 
der ? hold your hand upon the shoulder for several minutes, 
then descend, and after having quitted the ends of the fin- 
gers, recommence patiently the same process. Would you 
cure a pain in the stomach ? place your hands several min- 
utes upon the stomach, and descend to the knees. You will 
accumulate the fluid by holding your hands still ; by bring- 
ing them down, you will draw away both the fluid and the 
pain at the same time. 

If your patient be troubled with an obstruction, place 
your hand upon the seat of it, leave it there for some time, 
either immovable or making a circular motion, and draw it 
along towards the extremities. If the obstruction does not 
occupy a great space, present your fingers near, without 
uniting them, because it is principally by the points that the 
fluid escapes. Turn them aside when you bring them away, 
and then wave them towards the extremities. You may be 
assured that the motions you make externally, will operate 
sympathetically in the interior of the patient's body, wher- 
ever you have sent the fluid into it. 

If any one has received a blow behind the head, produc- 
ing a contusion, take the head between your two hands, 
conveying the action of your will to the seat of the injury. 



28 OF THE PROCESSES [CHAP. II. 

Then bring your hand down along the back, if the contu- 
sion is behind the head ; or down the forepart of the body 
to the knees, if it is in the front of it ; or along the arm, if 
it is on the side. You will thus prevent the blood from tend- 
ing to the head ; you will avoid the danger of inflammation, 
and probably render bleeding unnecessary. If you wish to 
cure a burn, chilblains, or a felon, follow the same process. 
The examples I have just cited may be applied to most 
cases. I think that, in general, contact is useful to concen- 
trate the action, and that passes at a short distance, are pre- 
ferable for establishing and maintaining the magnetic cur- 
rents. Magnetic frictions are employed with advantage in 
pains of the limbs. 

In the headache, if the pain is very great, and if there be 
heat, after having placed your hands upon the head for 
some time, withdraw them as if you believed the fluid you 
have introduced to be united to that of the patient, that the 
mingled fluid stuck to your hands, and that in separating 
your hands and shaking your fingers, you could draw it off 
again ; it is in effect what you will see verified. If the 
headache proceed from the stomach, this process alone will 
not succeed ; it will be necessary to act upon the stomach. 
If the blood tends to the head, it will be requisite, as I have 
said, to draw it down, and repeat the passes over the legs 
and over the feet. 

I have said that the fingers brought near and pointed 
towards the part, act more powerfully, and concentrate the 
fluid better than the extended hand. There is one other 
process, the action of which is much stronger, and which 
may be employed with success for local pains and for ob- 
structions. 



CHAP. II.] IN ANIMAL MAGNETISM. 29 

Place a piece of linen several times folded, or a fragment 
of woollen or cotton cloth, upon the suffering part ; apply 
the mouth above it, and breathe through it ; it excites a 
lively sensation of heat ; and the breath, which is charged 
with the magnetic fluid, introduces it into the system. It is 
also observed that the heat is not merely at the surface, 
as that of hot iron would be, but it penetrates into the inte- 
rior. After having employed this process, make the usual 
passes to draw off and expel the pain. 

Blowing cold air from the mouth at a distance, produces 
a refreshing effect. It helps to dissipate the heat, which is 
withdrawn by presenting the fingers, taking care to separate 
them as you draw them off, in the usual manner. 

The head may also be cooled by putting the palm of the 
hands upon it, and holding the fingers elevated and separate. 
The fluid passes off at the ends of the fingers. 

It is often impossible to draw a pain far from the part 
where it is fixed ; and you will succeed solely by driving 
it off progressively, by little and little. A pain upon the top 
of the head will be lessened at first in the center, by waving 
the hands downward and outward, on the right and left. 
At every pass a portion will be dislodged and carried off. 
It will take more or less time to dissipate it entirely. 

I will not here relate the details given by M. Kluge, 
Professor in the Medical School of Berlin, upon the various 
kinds of manipulation.* What has been said suffices to 
indicate the processes that may be employed when no sen- 
sible effect has been produced. I will merely add that the 
action is more lively and penetrating by the digital manipu- 

* In the German work, entitled " Animal Magnetism as a cura- 
tive means." Vienna. IS" 1 * 



30 OF THE PROCESSES [CHAP. II. 

lation, that is, when one presents the end of the fingers, than 
when he presents the hands open and the fingers straight, 
so as to have the fluid pass from all the interior surface. 
Manipulation with the open hand at a distance, is a process 
generally used to soothe; it is often sufficient to appease 
the sharpest pains, The fingers united to a point, concen- 
trate the action upon the part towards which they are di- 
rected. 

I am now going to recapitulate, in few words, what I have 
said upon magnetism with the long pass, by indicating the 
processes which are the most convenient at the commence- 
ment, during, and at the termination of the sitting. 

1st. Establish the communication by holding the thumbs, 
placing the hands upon the shoulders, and making passes 
along the arms with a light pressure, and placing the hands 
upon the stomach. 2d. Direct the current from the head 
to the feet, or at least to the knees. Touching is useless. 
3d. Make passes, or else magnetic frictions along the legs 
to the extremity of the feet ; soothe the patient by several 
passes at a distance with the open hand ; and finally, throw 
ofT the superabundant fluid by a few transversal passes. 
The first sittings ought to be about an hour in duration, 
w r hen there is no reason to prolong or abridge them. I say 
the first sittings, because a part of the time is consumed in 
establishing the communication. As soon as that has been 
once well established, the action of magnetism is manifested 
at the first moment ; then a sitting of half an hour or three- 
quarters, provided the labor commenced is duly sustained, 
will be sufficient. 

It is iv cessary to order the treatment in the most uniform 
and regular manner possible. The sittings must be period- 
ical, and equal in duration. The magnetizer must be calm 



CHAP. II.] IX ANDIAL MAGNETISM. 31 

and self-collected ; all foreign influence must be banished ; 
all curious persons excluded, and also every other witness 
except the one chosen at first. There must be a similar 
degree of magnetic power exerted at each sitting, and the 
mode of procedure first adopted, must be continued. Nev- 
ertheless, when the patient experiences sensations, these often 
determine the operator to vary or to modify the processes. 
This then is the place to speak of these effects, and of the 
indications they afford of the manner of proceeding.* 

Before entering upon the details, I think it important to 
combat an opinion which appears to me entirely erroneous, 
although it is maintained by men well versed in the knowl- 
edge of magnetism, namely, that the processes are in them- 
selves indifferent : that they serve only to fix the attention, 
and that the will alone does all. People have been led to 
adopt this idea at the sight of a phenomenon which some 
somnambulists present, and by the application of a particular 
case to a general theory. 

There are some somnambulists perfectly concentrated, 
whose interior faculties are so energetic as to act upon 
themselves by their own power, and conformably to the will 
communicated to them by their magnetizer. The magnet- 
izer causes a headache or a side-ache to cease, simply 
because he icills it. There are likewise men endowed with 
such magnetic power, that they can act upon patients who 
are very susceptible and in perfect communication with 
them, while directing the action upon this or that part, by 

-lany magnetizers experience sensations which ought of neces- 
sity to govern them in the choice of processes. But as this precious 
faculty is not common to all, I shall in another chapter speak of the 
means of developing it in ourselves, and of the advantages arising 
from it. 



32 OF THE PROCESSES [CHAP. II. 

the thought and by the look ; but these cases are extremely 
rare, and no conclusions can be drawn from them for ordi- 
nary practice. 

The processes are nothing if they are not in unison with 
a determined intention. We may even say they are not 
the cause of the magnetic action ; but it is indisputable that 
they are necessary for directing and concentrating, and 
that they ought to be varied according to the end one has 
in view. 

Somnambulists point out for themselves processes alto- 
gether different, according to the seat of the disease ; and 
when they advise a patient to have recourse to magnetism, 
they take great care to prescribe to him the processes he 
ought to employ. It is certain, that by proper processes, 
and not by the will only, one is able to displace a pain, to 
make it descend, to accelerate the circulation of the blood, 
to dissipate an obstruction, and to restore the equilibrium. 
There are cases when one does much good by placing his 
hands upon the knees, though he would do much injury by 
holding them long upon the stomach. Numbness, heaviness, 
disagreeable sensations, are produced by charging the head 
too much. It is often necessary to spread out the magnet- 
ism at the close of a sitting, and to withdraw the fluid by 
the extremities, in order to relieve him who is overcharged 
with it. 

When I said that a method different from mine might 
succeed equally well, I intended to say that each one might 
modify the processes according to his own views and prac- 
tice ; but not that he could omit them, or employ them in a 
manner contrary to the general rules. For example, vari- 
ous magnetizers act equally well by passes, more gentle, or 
more rapid ; by contact, or at a distance ; by holding the 



CHAP. II,] IN ANIMAL MAGNETISM. 33 

hands to the same place, or by establishing currents. But 
it is absurd to believe one can cure chilblains on the feet, 
by placing the hands on the breast. 

There are some general processes that are employed at 
the commencement ; there are others that are suggested by 
circumstances, or by the effects first produced. We shall 
discourse of these in the next chapter. 



NOTE I. 

I have often remarked that persons who are not in the 
habit of magnetizing, think they ought to exert a great deal 
of force. For which purpose, they contract their muscles, 
and make efforts of attention and will. This method is not 
good ; it is often injurious. When the will is calm and 
constant, and the attention sustained by the interest we take 
in the patient, the most salutary effects ensue, without our 
giving ourselves the least pain. There are cases when it 
is necessary to make a violent effort, to oppose a false di- 
rection, to vanquish an obstacle, to sustain or terminate a 
crisis. We may then have need of extraordinary power ; 
but it is never at the commencement of a treatment, that we 
are obliged to have recourse to it. A person ought not to 
fatigue himself by magnetic processes ; he will experience 
fatigue enough from the loss of the vital fluid. 



NOTE II. 

I have said that at the close of each sitting, it is proper 
to relieve the patient of the superabundant fluid, by making 
transversal passes, and passes beyond the extremities ; and 



34 OF THE PROCESSES. [CHAP. II. 

have hinted that it is sometimes better to draw off the 
fluid from the patient, instead of charging him with that of 
another ; but I neglected to insist upon this point, and to 
show the case where that negative method is of great im- 
portance. I will explain my views on this subject. 

When there is a great excitement of the nervous system, 
a great irritation, or a tendency to inflammation, you will 
always produce a soothing effect in drawing away the fluid. 
Jt also frequently happens that the ailment is drawn away 
with the fluid. Thus in the inflammation of the brain, it is 
proper to begin the passes at the lower part of the head, to 
draw it out either by the sides, or by the top. I will cite a 
remarkable fact, to which I was an eve -witness. 

M. H***, a mate of a vessel, went several days ago to 
see M. N***, of whom I shall soon make mention. About 
five years ago, he had a stroke of the sun, (coup de soleil,) 
and since that p*eriod, he has frequently felt violent pains in 
the head. One day when this pain caused him intense suf- 
fering, T. N*** thought of filling a glass with magnetized 
water, of covering it with linen cloth, so that in turning it 
over, the water might not spill out ; and he applied it, thus 
inverted, to the back part of the head of M. H***, who 
leaned dow T n for that purpose. Then he made passes from 
the head to the tumbler, to draw off the fluid and make it 
enter the water. M. H*** felt something pass from his 
head towards the inverted glass. He told me it was just 
like drawing out a fine stream of water. In five minutes 
the pain ceased entirely. I do not know whether it will 
ever return ; but there is no doubt that the same means will 
succeed in causing it to disappear. 

You might, in many circumstances, apply this process, 
which ought to be accompanied with the proper intention. 



CHAP. II.] IN ANIMAL MAGNETISM. 35 

I believe that if, after the operation, any one had drunk the 
water contained in the glass, he would have experienced 
very disagreeable effects from it. 



NOTE III. 

A short time after Mesmer, who explained all the phe- 
nomena of magnetism by causes purely physical, some per- 
sons going into the opposite extreme, substituted in the place 
of this theory, a system of spiritualism. M.Ie Chevalier de 
Barbarin, a very pious man, but probably too much devot- 
ed to mystical ideas, pretended that all processes were use- 
less, and that faith and the will were sufficient to operate 
prodigies. Those who adopted his opinions, had recourse 
to prayers at the patients' bed-side, and often succeeded in 
curing them. The success they obtained proves nothing to 
support their principles ; and the state of concentration which 
this method demands, might give rise to bad consequences. 
Our spirit is the principle of voluntary movements ; it gives 
impulse to the nervous fluid ; but so long as it is united to 
organized matter, it is destined to act externally by the aid 
of the organs, either immediately, or by the emanation which 
is conveyed to a distance, like the rays from a luminous 
body. I have interdicted myself from all theory, and I 
would have been silent upon the opinions of the spiritualists, 
if there were not at this time men of good intentions, who, 
disdaining magnetism, undertake to treat patients by prac- 
tices which they think more powerful, and more efficacious. 
They obtain cures, undoubtedly ; they produce ecstatic som- 
nambulism ; and their somnambulists are persuaded they 
are inspired. This may lead into errors, and disturb the 
d 



36 OF THE PROCESSES. [CHAP. II. 

imagination not only of the patients, but also of those who 
consult them. Let any one recal the singular ideas enter- 
tained by those who witnessed the somnambulists of Suede, 
and he will see that nothing can be more contrary to rea- 
son. Let us not then consider somnambulism as a super- 
natural state, in which they have celestial visions and inspi- 
rations ; but let us see in it the extension of our faculties, 
and perhaps the developement of an interior sense, which is t 
active when the external senses are slumbering. Let us 
employ magnetism as a means of aiding nature, of reani- 
mating strength, of establishing the equilibrium, of facilitat- 
ing the circulation ; and let us not imagine that man can 
give to himself or to others, the power of working miracles. 
If no other advantages were derived from the processes than 
that of curbing the imagination, it would still be necessary 
to make use of them. 



CHAPTER III. 

OF THE EFFECTS, AND THEIR INDICATIONS. 

Of the effects by which the action of magnetism is manifested, and 
of the modifications which the observation of these effects indi- 
cates in the processes. 

There are some patients upon whom magnetism does not 
act, owing either to peculiarity of constitution, to the kind 
of disease, or to a want of analogy with the magnetizer ; 
but this is very rare. It is less rare that the communication 
cannot be established until after several sittings ; whence 
one cannot presume that magnetism does not act, till after 
1 of five days. 

In order to found this presumption even after this lapse 
of time, it is not enough that the patient has felt nothing 
when you have attempted to magnetize him. It is to be 
considered whether he has experienced no change in his 
condition; whether he does not find himself better, or whether 
his disease is not rendered worse by pursuing the ordinary 
course. It frequently happens that magnetism gradually 
re-establishes the harmony of the system without producing 
any sensation, and its influence is perceived only in the 
restoration of health. In that case you ought to continue 
zealously to follow the processes I have pointed out, without 
troubling yourself about the manner in which the magnetism 
acts, and without seeking for any apparent effect. By 
making efforts of the attention and of the will, and trying 
processes which are thought more active, you would fatigue 



38 OF THE EFFECTS, [CHAP. III. 

yourself uselessly, and perhaps disturb the gradual and 
peaceful course of nature. 

The happiest thing that can happen to him who for the 
first time attempts to magnetize, is, to encounter a subject 
who is not insensible to the action of magnetism, and who 
nevertheless feels only slight and gradual effects from it. 
If the first patient whose case is undertaken is absolutely 
Unsensible to the action, one is apt to imagine he has not 
conducted the process aright, or else he doubts his own 
power, and in proportion as one doubts it, it really becomes 
enfeebled. If one were at first to see wonderful effects 
produced, he would be apt to yield to curiosity and enthu- 
siasm ; and the attention would be drawn from the essential 
object, which is a cure. To magnetize well, it is necessary 
to be very attentive, to be surprised at nothing, and to 
observe the effects produced, only the better to direct the 
action of magnetism. 

The instruction which I here give, has for its principal ob- 
ject, to prevent false ideas and exaggerated opinions, to which 
persons are liable to be exposed, for want of experience. 
They who adopt my principles, will not lose confidence in 
their powers because they have not at first succeeded ; they 
will not be precipitated into exaggeration because they have 
seen surprising things. They will know how to modify 
both the influence of their will, and the processes which 
they first employed. 

* There are patients in whom the influence of magnetism 
is displayed in two or three minutes ; others, who do not feel 
it for a long time. There are some in whom the effects are 
constantly increasing ; others, who experience at the first 
time all that they will experience in the course of a long 
treatment. We sometimes meet with persons who obtain 



CHAP. III.] AND THEIR INDICATIONS. 39 

from it, the first day, results the most remarkable and salu- 
tary, but who finally become accustomed to it, and receive 
not the least advantage nor the least impression. 

The effects by which magnetism manifests its action, are 
greatly varied ; sometimes only one effect takes place, some- 
times several show themselves together, or successively, in 
the same patient. When these effects have been once pro- 
duced, it is very common to have them promptly renewed 
at each sitting. They change sometimes, in proportion to 
the change wrought in the malady. 

I will now describe the effects which are most commonly 
exhibited. 

The magnetized person perceives a heat escaping from 
the ends of your fingers, when you pass them at a little dis- 
tance before the face, although your hands appear cold to 
him, if you touch him. He feels the heat through his clothes, 
in some parts, or in all parts of his body before which your 
hands pass. He often compares it to water moderately warm, 
flowing over him, and the sensation precedes your hand. 
His legs become numb, especially if you do not carry your 
hands as low as his feet ; and this numbness ceases when, 
towards the close, you make passes along the legs to the 
toes, or below them. Sometimes, instead of communicating 
heat, you communicate cold ; sometimes also you produce 
heat upon one part of the body, and cold upon another. 
There is often induced a general warmth, and a perspira- 
tion more or less considerable. Pain is felt in the parts 
where the disease is seated. These pains change place, and 
descend. 

Magnetism causes the eyes to be closed. They are shut 

in such a manner that the patient cannot operkthem ; he 

feels a calm, a sensation of tranquil enjoyment ; he grows 
d* 



40 OP THE EFFECTS, [CHAP. III. 

drowsy, he sleeps ; he wakes when spoken to, or else he 
wakes of himself at the end of a certain time, and finds him- 
self refreshed. Sometimes he enters into somnambulism, in 
which state he hears the magnetizer and answers him with- 
out awaking. 

As the state of somnambulism ought entirely to change 
the manner of magnetizing, and as it does not take place 
except in a small number of cases, we shall speak of it in a 
chapter by itself. Now, we are merely describing what 
occurs when there is no somnambulism, and pointing out the 
conduct to be observed in various circumstances. 

I said in the preceding chapter that one of the most ordi- 
nary effects of magnetism is to dislodge the pain, and make 
it pass down in the direction of the current given to the fluid. 
If when this is dislodged it does not at first reach the ex- 
tremities, you wjll succeed in forcing it thither in the subse- 
quent sittings. But there are cases, when this result requires 
uninterrupted action. 

For example, if the gout were seated in the head, and if 
in descending it is arrested at the breast or the stomach, it is 
essential to continue the action until it is conducted to the feet. 

The displacement of the malady is always a proof of the 
efficacy of magnetism ; but this displacement sometimes pro- 
duces very sharp pains ; instead of being troubled about 
these, it is necessary to magnetize during the succeeding 
days until they are entirely dissipated. I once saw a lady, 
who had a catarrh with a severe cough. At the first sitting 
the catarrh was cured ; but there remained in her limbs 
violent pains, which lasted three days, because she did not 
again have recourse to magnetism. 

The action of magnetism is sometimes accompanied with 
nervous movements, and very often a disposition to yawn ; 



CHAP. III.] AND THEIR INDICATIONS. 41 

sometimes the patient experiences pains at the stomach, and 
nausea, which is even followed by vomiting ; at other times 
he experiences colic pains. 

These crises ought to give the magnetizer no disquiet. 
He ought to know how to calm those which are nervous, 
and to aid the tendencies of nature. 

It sometimes happens that the patient desires to have the 
sitting prolonged, sometimes to have it suspended, because 
he feels a species of irritation. In these cases it is well to 
follow his inclination as far as possible. 

I here repeat, that what I have just described are insu- 
lated effects, exhibited in various circumstances, with various 
individuals, at different times ; and are rarely united in the 
same case. 

Now let us see what modifications the observation of 
these effects ought to suggest in the processes. 

If the patient feels the sensation of heat or coolness from 
your fingers, content yourself with magnetizing with long 
passes, If the action of magnetism excites pain in any 
organ, concentrate the action upon that organ, in order to 
draw it away afterwards. 

If there be manifested any heat or heaviness at the head, 
attract it to the knees. 

If magnetism produces a sense of suffocation, or an irri- 
tation of the lungs, make passes, beginning below the breast, 
and continuing to the knees. 

If colics take place, and if they indicate, as they often do 
with women, that the circulation ought to be accelerated, 
avoid letting the hands stop at the breast, or even at the 
stomach ; carry the action to the sides and below them ; 
make passes along the thighs, and let the hands remain 
some time upon the knees. 



42 OF THE EFFECTS, [CHAP. III. 

If the patient have pains at the back, make passes along 
the vertebral column. 

If you see any nervous movements, calm them by your 
will, first taking the thumbs or the wrists, and afterwards 
making passes at the distance of several inches, or even of 
several feet, with the open hand. 

If magnetism seems to act too powerfully, moderate the 
action, and render it more soothing, by making the passes 
at a distance. 

If the patient sleep, let him sleep tranquilly while you 
continue to magnetize him. When you wish to rest your- 
self, take the thumbs of the patient, or place your hands 
upon his knees. 

If the sitting has been long, and you are obliged to quit, 
rouse the patient gently, by telling him to awake, and by 
making passes sideways across the eyes. 

If the e}^es are closed fast, not attended with sleep, open 
them by some passes sideways, but not till the termination 
of the sitting. 

If after being roused, the patient feels anew the desire of 
sleeping, you will leave him to sleep alone, taking precau- 
tions that no one shall trouble him. 

Here I ought to observe, that the magnetic sleep is of itself 
essentially restorative. During this sleep, nature unassisted 
works a cure ; and it is often sufficient to re-establish the 
equilibrium, and cure nervous complaints. 

When you have ended the sitting, you will agree with the 
patient upon the hour when the next one shall take place, 
and you will endeavor to be exact. It is advantageous to 
magnetize every day at the same hour, and above all, not 
to change the hour agreed upon for many days in succes- 
sion. 



CHAP. III.] AND THEIR INDICATIONS. 43 

Should the patient whose treatment you have undertaken, 
appear to have any contagious disease, you will take care 
to be always active while near him, so as always to impart, 
and not to receive ; that is to say, to sustain your attention, 
and employ your will, that you may constantly throw off 
the fluid from you. You will also avoid, as much as pos- 
sible, immediate contact. After each sitting, if you have 
the opportunity, you will cause yourself to be magnetized 
for some minutes to free yourself from the bad fluid with 
which you may be charged. If you cannot do this, you 
should pass your own hands along your arms to withdraw 
it and shake it off. If you experience fatigue, the open air, 
and especially the sun, will in a few minutes restore your 
energies. 

You should not magnetize when you have eaten heartily, 
and during digestion ; but it is often useful to take some- 
thing before the sitting to increase your strength. He who 
undertakes a treatment, ought in general to live temperately, 
avoiding all excesses, and to guard as much as possible 
against all things which tend to interrupt or disturb the ex- 
ercise of his physical and moral powers. 

I have laid it down as a principle, that when magnetism 
produces crises, it is dangerous to interrupt them. I will 
now explain what is meant by crises. 

Physicians give the name of crises to every sudden change 
which, supervening in a disease, modifies its progress or cha- 
racter, and enables us to foresee the result of it. 

These crises appear to be the effort of nature to free 
herself of the morbific principle. They are salutary when 
they operate completely ; they are injurious when the pa- 
tient has not strength to sustain them. They are manifest- 
ed by symptoms ; such as a removal of the seat of **>*» 






44 OF THE EFFECTS, [CHAP. III. 

malady, a remarkable change in the pulse, evacuations, ex- 
cretions, eruptions, the gathering of humors, pains in certain 
parts, nervous motions, &c. In acute diseases, these crises 
generally operate on determinate days, which are called 
the critical days. 

Mesmer says there are no cures without crises. If, by 
this, he meant that the patient does not recover his health 
except by a change of state, it is so clear as to require no 
notice. If he meant that the cure is wrought by sudden 
change manifested by evident symptoms, it is not always 
true. For many diseases are cured by slow and gradual 
amelioration, without any one's being able to mark the mo- 
ment when they assumed a favorable character. A fever 
diminishes day by day and entirely ceases ; and a hundred 
other diseases are soothed and disappear when no one can 
determine the csruse of the cessation, any more than that of 
the attack. But it is true that in most acute diseases, the 
cure takes place by an evident change, which occurs all at 
once, in the state of the patient. 

Magnetizers have given the name of crises to the re- 
markable changes which the action of magnetism produces 
upon those who are subjected to it, or to that state which is 
different from the natural one, into which they are thrown 
by its influence ; and as, of all the changes of state which 
are produced by magnetism, somnambulism is the most sin- 
gular and most characterized, they have generally desig- 
nated it as a crisis, and they have called somnambulists, 
crlsiacs. 

The expression, thus limited, loses much of the significa- 
tion usually given to it by physicians ; but it suffices to be 
informed of it, that it mav not be mistaken. 



CHAP. III.] AND THEIR INDICATIONS. 45 

I thought this explanation necessary, in order to let the 
reader understand the principle I have laid down. We 
come to the application. 

The magnetic action has put your patient into a state 
different from the ordinary state, which displays itself by 
divers symptoms, such as sharp pains in a part of the body, 
the sense of suffocation, nervous movement, spasms, a con- 
siderable perspiration, the impossibility of opening the eyes, 
drowsiness, sleep, somnambulism. You ought to allow the 
crisis time to develope itself, to calm the spasm by degrees, 
to concentrate the action upon the seat of the pain, then to 
draw it off, taking care that nothing check the perspiration, 
to dissipate by little and little the drowsiness or the sleep, if 
it be too much prolonged. But you ought never to wake 
your patient suddenly, nor permit any one to trouble him, 
nor ought you to quit him until the singular state into which 
you have thrown him has entirely ceased. 

The term magnetic state has been given to every state 
different from the natural one, and resulting from the mag- 
netic influence. This word is more general than the word 
crisis, and is not equivocal. You ought to avoid leaving 
the patient so long as he is in this state, during which a crisis 
rarely occurs. It is essential not to disturb the process of 
nature. 

When a patient is put into a profound sleep by magnetism, 
if he is touched by any one who rouses him roughly, he 
feels much evil from it. I have seen this thing produce 
convulsions or violent pains, render the return of somnam- 
bulism impossible, and even change to such a degree the 
condition of the patient, that he could not afterwards endure 
the action of magnetism ; and it was necessary to leave his 
restoration to time and regimen. 



46 OF THE EFFECTS, [CHAP. III. 

Persons who have been for the first time put into som- 
nambulism, have been known to lose all at once the faculty 
of entering into it again, by being rudely roused from it. 

General rule. — Whenever any crisis is manifested, the 
magnetizer ought to develope it, to second the work of 
nature, and not to quit the patient until the crisis is at an 
end, and until he is brought back to his natural state. 

It is important to have the magnetizer free from anxiety 
on account of the pains which he may excite in the abdomen, 
and which are often renewed during several sittings ; these 
critical pains will disappear of themselves when nature has 
re-established harmony, and triumphed over the obstacle 
which is the cause of them. 

I ought here to speak of an effect happily very rare, but 
of which it is proper to forewarn those who are commencing 
the practice of magnetism, so that if it takes place, they 
may not be alarmed, and commit any act of imprudence. 

It often happens that the first impression of magnetism, 
produces a crisis accompanied with convulsive motions, 
stiffness of the limbs, and fits of laughing or of crying. 

In this case it is essential that the magnetizer be not 
alarmed. He ought first to take the thumbs of the patient, 
and tell him to be calm ; then he should make passes along 
the legs and feet, and withdraw himself in order to mag- 
netize him at a distance by the long pass. If he keeps him- 
self collected, suffers no one to approach, takes merely the 
necessary precautions, and trusts in his own powers, and 
the action of his will, the crisis will terminate, and the per- 
son magnetized will not be fatigued, and perhaps retain but 
a faint recollection of what has passed. 

If he wishes to continue to magnetize him, which will be 
very proper, he must, at the next sitting, as soon as he has 



CHAP. III.] AND THEIR INDICATIONS. 47 

put himself in communication by holding the thumbs, mag- 
netize him by the long pass, with the intention of soothing, 
and not augment the action too fast, taking care not to 
shake the fingers. Above all, it is important for the mag- 
netizer to have a mind free from all inquietude, to act as if 
the patient were as free from it as himself, and to banish all 
witnesses who might trouble him. 

The effect of which I am about to speak is so rare, ex- 
cept in nervous and convulsive diseases, that I have not pro- 
duced them myself but three or four times, in the course of 
a practice of thirty-five years. I know very well that it 
has taken place many times, and been attended with bad 
consequences ; but it was in the hands of persons who mag- 
netized to make experiments, to exhibit phenomena, and 
not with calmness and the pure intention of doing good. 

I should hardly have dreamed of noticing this effect, if I 
had not recently seen an example of it which I am going to 
give an account of, the better to make myself understood, 
although this work is not intended to report facts in support 
of what I advance. 

I was desired several days ago, to instruct a lady who 
wished to magnetize her daughter, while laboring under a 
slight but long-seated disease, the cause of which was un- 
known. I caused the mother to sit by my side, and, to 
show her the processes, I attempted to magnetize her daugh- 
ter, who experienced not the slightest effect. 

The mother having told me that she herself had been once 
magnetized, and had felt the necessity of closing her eyes, 
I wished to see if I could act upon her. 

After trying the long pass four or five minutes, and pla- 
cing my hand upon her stomach, she cried out, " O, what 

E 



48 OF THE EFFECTS, [CHAP. Ill- 

an agreeable sensation !" One minute after, she was seized 
with convulsive movements, her limbs were stiffened, her 
neck became swollen, and she threw her head back, uttering 
shrieks. I took her thumbs, and repeated to her several 
times with a tone of authority, "be calm." I made passes 
along the legs. I then withdrew a little, to magnetize by 
the long pass. Finally, keeping at a distance, I attempted 
to make transverse passes, in order to draw off and chase 
away the fluid. Her appearance then changed, but a 
laughing fit succeeded which lasted several minutes. She 
gradually became calm. She told me she felt very well, 
and that she did not believe she had suffered. 

Now if I had called in any one to hold her, or if I had 
been frightened, it is probable that the lady thus magnetized 
would have suffered for several days. 

If it is rare to produce convulsive movements by the 
method generally employed, after the instructions given by 
M. de Puysegur, it is not rare to meet with persons upon 
whom magnetism produces a nervous irritation, which leaves 
them, after the sittings, in an uneasy state of feeling. When 
you meet with subjects who are thus susceptible, it is proper 
to make use of the most soothing action, and to act from a 
distance. If, after three or four sittings, the same effect 
takes place, you may presume that magnetism is not good 
for the patient, or that the fluid of the magnetizer does not 
agree with him, and you ought not to persist in it. One 
might merely try, two or three times, other magnetizers. 

Many things remain to be said about the indications 
which may direct one in the choice of processes. These 
indications are of two kinds ; the first are furnished by the 
state of the patient, and will naturally find their place when 



CHAP. III.] AND THEIR INDICATIONS. 49 

I speak of the application of magnetism to various diseases; 
the other belongs to the sensations which a practised and 
attentive magnetizer frequently experiences. I shall not 
discourse of these last, until I have mentioned the details 
relative to the employment of magnetism, to the crises it 
produces, and to the precautions that ought to be taken to 
obtain salutary results. But before ending this chapter, I 
ought to say a word upon the advantages one might obtain 
from a very feeble magnetic action, exerted by persons who 
have no idea of it, and by processes much more simple than 
the ones I have described. 

We often see, in the most laborious class of people, pa- 
tients to whom we presume that magnetism would do the 
greatest good, and whose treatment it is impossible for us to 
undertake. I will now explain how, and to what extent we 
can make their relations and friends supply our place for 
their service. 

Although I have thrown all the light I could into the ex- 
planation of the processes, it would be useless to cause it to 
be read by peasants and laborers, who are never occupied 
in any thing but their work. They would not understand 
it, or at least they would not know how to apply it. But 
one might give them verbal instructions which they will 
perfectly comprehend, and which will suffice to put them in 
the way of doing more or less good to the patient who in- 
spires them with a real interest. Here is the way to effect it. 

Say to the person who appears to you to have the great- 
est afrection for the patient, and who is with him the most, 
that he can soothe him by making slight frictions ; that 
these frictions make the blood circulate ; that the heat which 
escapes from the hand is salutary ; that by holding the 



50 OF THE EFFECTS, [CHAP. III. 

hand upon the suffering part, the pain is lessened ; and that 
by passing the hand over the body, he may draw off the 
disease. Tell him that one person may communicate 
health to another who is sick, as we communicate disease 
to a well man, when we ourselves are diseased. You can 
even assure him that the heat produced by breathing through 
a linen cloth, is very good to relieve an obstruction ; and 
that blowing from the mouth at a distance, assists in soothing 
a local inflammation. You may add that the processes you 
are teaching produce no effect, when the person who em- 
ploys them is thinking of any thing else. If the persons to 
whom you address yourself are pious, you have a sure 
means of sustaining their attention, of directing their will, 
and of exciting their confidence. It is, to recommend to 
them to pray to God for the restoration of the patient, while 
they are engaged in acting upon him. When they are per- 
suaded that you give such advice through goodness, and that 
you do not doubt its efficacy, you will have little trouble In 
making them follow it. Then show them how they ought 
to put it in practice, by magnetizing for a quarter of an 
hour, and gaining the assistance of the person you are in- 
structing. While you are making this essay, guard well 
against seeking to produce any phenomenon. Try only to 
soothe pains, to bring heat to the extremities, and ease to 
the patient. Finally, warn them that, if the patient should 
fall asleep during the operation of passing the hands over 
him, they must not awaken him. It is desirable that no 
phenomenon may be manifested so remarkable as to aston- 
ish the one who is magnetizing him, but merely such effects 
as augment his confidence. Among the persons whom 
you have thus instructed, you will meet with some who, after 



CHAP. III.] AND THEIR INDICATIONS. 51 

a few days, will magnetize very well, without any suspicion 
of what they are about. 

Ignorant people being often disposed to have faith in the 
efficaciousness of certain practices, one might point out to 
them as a curative means, a particular sign, or a form of 
prayer, objects which have received the benediction of a 
priest, or a sort of amulet. But this is what no one ought 
to do, because it is practising deception upon them, and the 
paramount obligation, is, to say nothing which we do not 
believe to be true : besides, the abuse of means, innocent in 
themselves, may keep up ignorance, and favor superstition. 

I have frequently obtained the most happy results from 
the sort of instruction which I have just proposed. The 
action of magnetism thus directed, is doubtless more feeble 
than it would be in the hands of one who is acquainted with 
the power of it ; it does not produce surprising effects, but 
it is salutary, and accompanied with no danger. I have 
often seen a man soothing the pains of a wife, and a wife 
soothing those of her husband, by conforming with simplicity 
and confidence to the directions I had given them. Two 
examples may be cited. 

1. Oudin, an old soldier, whose case has been described 
by M. Ollivier, in his work " On the spine and its diseases," 
was paralysed from the hips to the feet. He could walk 
only by the aid of crutches, and his legs trembled continu- 
ally. He had most violent pains in the loins. He had 
been treated unsuccessfully at the Hotel -Dieu, afterwards 
in the fourth dispensary of the Philanthropic Society, when 
I directed his wife, although she was very feeble, to make 
slight frictions, almost without touching, from his hips to his 
feet. From the first day, the feet, which were very cold 

E* 



52 APPENDIX. 

" We read in Chronicles, that the ghost of Hermotimus 
Clazomenius was accustomed to abandon his body for a 
time, and wandering up and down in far countries, used to 
bring home news from remote places, of such things as 
could not possibly be known, unless it had -been present 
there ; and all the while his body lay, as it were, half dead 
in a trance. This practice it continued so long, that at last 
the Cantharidse, who were his mortal enemies, took his body 
and burnt it to ashes ; and by that means disappointed his 
poor soul when it came back again, of that sheath, as it 
were, or case, where she meant to bestow herself." — Pliny, 
look 7, chap, 52. 

There is some similarity between the above relation, and 
the following, which is extracted from Watson's " Annals 
oT Philadelphia," page 235, edition of 1830. 

The good people of Caledonia have so long and exclu- 
sively engrossed the faculty of second sight, that it may 
justly surprise many to learn that we also have been favored 
with at least one case as well attested as their own. I re- 
fer to the instance of Eli Yarnali, of Frankford. Whatever 
were his first peculiarities, he in time lost them. He fell 
into intemperate habits, became a wanderer, and died in 
Virginia, a young man. He was born in Bucks county, 
and with his family, emigrated to the neighborhood of Pitts- 
burg. There, when a child seven years old, he suddenly 
burst into a fit of laughter in the house, saying he saw his 
father (then at a distance) running down the mountain side, 
trying to catch a jug of whiskey which he had let fall. He 
saw him overtake it. When the father came home, he 
confirmed the whole story, to the great surprise of all. 
The boy after this excited much wonder and talk in the 
neighborhood. Two or three years after this, the family 
was visited by Robert Verree, a public Friend, with other 
visiting Friends from Bucks county. I have heard in a 
very direct manner, from those who heard Verree's narra- 
tive, that he, to try the lad, asked him various questions 
about circumstances then occurring at his own house, in 
Bucks county ; all of which he ascertained to have been 



APPENDIX. 53 

really so at that precise time! Some of the things men- 
tioned were these, viz.: "I see your house is made partly 
of logs and partly of stone; before the house is a pond which 
is now let out ; in the porch sits a woman, and a man with 
grey hairs ; in the house are several men," &c. 

When Verree returned home, he ascertained that his 
mill-pond before his house had been just let out, to catch 
muskrats ; that the man in the porch was his wife's brother, 
Jonathan ; that the men in his house were the mowers, 
who had ail come in because of a shower of rain. In short, 
he said every iota was exactly realized. 

The habit of the boy, when he sought for such facts, 
was, to sit down, and hold his head downwards, his eyes 
often shut ; and after some waiting, declared what he saw 
in his visions. He has been found abroad in the fields, sit- 
ting on a stump and crying ; on being asked the reason, he 
said he saw great destruction of human life by men in mu- 
tual combat. His descriptions answered exactly to sea- 
fights and army battles, although he had never seen the 
sea, nor ships, nor cannon ; all of which he fully described 
as an actual looker-on. Some of the Friends who saw 
him, became anxious for his future welfare, and deeming 
him possessed of a peculiar gift and a good spirit, desired 
to have the bringing of him up. He was therefore com- 
mitted to the mastery of Nathan Harper, engaged in the 
business of tanning, in Frankford. There he excited con- 
siderable conversation ; and so many came to visit him as 
to be troublesome to his master, who did what he could to 
discourage the calls. Questions, on his part, were there- 
fore shunned as much as he could. He lost his faculty by 
degrees, and fell into loose company, which of itself pre- 
vented serious people from having any further wish to 
interrogate him. 

To instance the kind of inquiries which were usually 
presented to him, it may be stated, that wives who had 
missed their husbands long, supposed by shipwreck for in- 
stance, would go to him and inquire. He would tell them, 
it is said, of some still alive, what they were about, &c. 
Another case was, a man, for banter, went to him to inquire 

E* 



54 OF THE EFFECTS. [CHAP. III. 

When a patient has an issue, it frequently happens that 
it closes after several sittings. This ought to give the op- 
erator no anxiety. It is a proof that the humors have taken 
another course. I directed the treatment of a lady who had 
been very ill for many years. Two issues which she had 
been advised to keep open, closed in a few days. She was 
at first alarmed at it ; but very soon she found herself bet- 
ter, and in six weeks she was restored to health. 






CHAPTER IV. 
OF SOMNAMBULISM, AND OF THE USE TO BE 

■ 

MADE OF IT. 

It is a well known fact that certain persons walk, speak 
and act in their sleep ; and that when they are awakened, 
they have no recollection of what they have been doing. 
These persons are called somnambulists ; that is, sleep- 
walkers ; and the state in which they are, is called somnam- 
bulism. The disposition to walk in the sleep, has been 
considered as a nervous affection which we should endeavor 
to counteract, because of the accidents which might spring 
from it. 

The apparent resemblance between spontaneous som- 
nambulism, and the crises which are often produced by 
magnetism, has induced men to call the latter magnetic 
somnambulism. A more appropriate name might have been 
found ; but as this has been received for forty years, it is 
useless to change it. 

Magnetic somnambulism, which we call, s\m\Ay^omnam- 
bulism, because that term cannot be equivocal in this work, 
is a mode of existence during which the person who is in it 
appears to be asleep. If his magnetizer speaks to him, he 
answers without waking; he can also execute various 
movements, and when he returns to the natural state, he 
retains no remembrance of what has passed. His eyes 
are closed ; he generally understands those only who are 
put in communication with him. The external organs of 



56 OF SOMNAMBULISM, [CHAP. IV. 

sense are all, or nearly all, asleep ; and yet he experiences 
sensations, but by another means. There is roused in him 
an internal sense, which is perhaps the center of the others, 
or a sort of instinct, which enlightens him in respect to his 
own preservation. He is subject to the influence of his 
magnetizer, and this influence may be either useful or inju- 
rious, according to the disposition and the conduct of the 
magnetizer.* 

Somnambulism presents phenomena infinitely varied. A 
description of them may be found in a great number of works 
published upon this subject. This is not the place to de- 
scribe them. My design is solely to teach the means of 
obtaining the most useful results from this crisis, without 
exposing one's self to the least inconvenience. 

Of all the discoveries which have excited attention, from 
the remotest antiquity, that of somnambulism certainly gives 
us the most insight into the nature and the faculties of man. 
The phenomena to which it has drawn our attention, de- 
monstrate the distinction of two things ; the two-fold exist- 
ence of the internal and the external man in a single indi- 
vidual. They offer a direct proof of the spirituality of the 
soul. They make evident the truth known to ancient sages, 
and so well expressed by M. de Bonald, that man is an in- 
telligenc^erved ly organs. This advantage cannot be too 
highly appreciated, especially in an age when audacious 
minds do not fear to employ the researches of physiology to 
shake the certainty of the interior sentiment which reveals 
to us the dignity of man, his supremacy in the order of cre- 
ation, and his moral liberty ; a sentiment which is the basis 

* There are exceptions to the character here given, but they are 
extremely rare. 



CHAP. IV.] AND ITS MANAGEMENT. 57 

of social life, and which engages to the practice of virtue, 
by pointing out to us in a future life the developement of 
our earthly existence, and the recompense of sacrifices 
made to obey the dictates of conscience. On the other 
hand, somnambulism makes known to us the means of cur- 
ing diseases which are curable, and of relieving those which 
are not. It serves to rectify the errors of medicine as well 
as those of metaphysics. Finally, it points out the origin of 
a great number of opinions prevalent anterior to the exper- 
iments which have confirmed their correctness ; and it re- 
stores to the order of nature, a multitude of facts which phi- 
losophers have disdained to examine, either because igno- 
rance and credulity had altered some of their circumstances, 
or because, in the dark ages, they were made to serve as 
the foundation of superstition. 

Yet the discovery of somnambulism having been made, 
or rather renewed in our time, without our being prepared 
for it, and the application which can be made of it, demand- 
ing a meditative mind, great prudence, severe manners, re- 
ligious dispositions, gravity of character, positive knowl- 
edge, and other qualities which do not accord with the ami- 
able levity and excitable imagination of Frenchmen, it may 
be doubted whether its sudden propagation has not produced 
as much evil as good, and whether it would not have been 
better that this marvellous phenomenon had not been at first 
observed, and that people had confined themselves merely 
to magnetism as Mesmer taught it, and as many persons 
before him practised it, without knowing whether they em- 
ployed a particular agent, or a faculty common to all men. 
But it was impossible that they who devoted themselves to 
the practice of magnetism, should not be struck sooner or 
later with a phenomena which would not fail to present 



58 OF SOMNAMBULISM, [CHAP. IV. 

itself. It was equally impossible that they should not have 
been seized with enthusiasm at the sight of the wonderful 
things which accompany it, and make it a secret. It was, 
finally, impossible that men who were strangers to the true 
principles of magnetism, should not seek to produce the same 
wonderful things, to exercise their power and satisfy their 
curiosity, and should know how to confine themselves within 
proper bounds to avoid dangers and errors. Hence it has 
resulted that magnetism has often been employed, not to cure 
diseases, but to procure somnambulism. And as somnam- 
bulists have faculties and means of knowledge which we 
have not, people have imagined they ought to know every 
thing, and have consulted them as oracles. If instead of 
yielding to enthusiasm, they had examined the phenomena 
by the lights of physiology, they would have perceived the 
danger of pushing too far a state during which an inexpli- 
cable change occurs in the functions of the nervous system, 
in the play of the organs, and in the manner of perceiving 
and transmitting sensation ; that the more the sensibility is 
exalted, the more ought they to be on their guard against 
what might increase that exaltation ; that at the extremity 
of the course which nature has marked out for herself, and 
which she has strengh to run over, preserving the harmony 
of all the faculties and the control of reason, an immense 
field is open to the imagination, in which illusions take the 
place of truth ; that somnambulism is only a transient crisis, 
of which it is necessary to make use without wandering 
from the design for which nature has produced it ; and that 
somnambulism too much prolonged, would give us habits 
which would not be in accordance with our ordinary desti- 
nation, and of itself would become a disease. 



CHAP. IV.] AND ITS MANAGEMENT. 59 

I will not insist upon these considerations, the develope- 
ment of which would carry me to a great extent. I propose 
to teach what it is necessary to know in practice, without 
entering into any discussion. 

Somnambulism is known ; it presents itself often in the 
magnetic practice ; let us see what are the means of always 
deriving from it the greatest advantage, and avoiding all 
misuse of it. 

The first advice I shall give, is, that you never seek to 
produce somnambulism, but to let it come naturally, in order 
to profit by it when it takes place. 

Many magnetizers, in order to produce it, charge the 
head very much ; and by this means, they often succeed in 
obtaining a false slumber, a reflux of blood towards the 
brain, and partial crises which are of no utility. This 
method is not without danger. It is much better simply to 
employ magnetism by the long pass, and not to charge the 
head more than the other parts. If nature is disposed to 
this crisis, the fluid will, of itself, be carried to the brain, 
and the tendency to somnambulism will be manifested by 
the patient's being in a state of tranquillity, by his closing 
his eyes, and by his sleeping. You may then, without any 
inconvenience, pass the extremities of your fingers five or 
six times at a short distance before his eyes, in order to 
give more intensity to his sleep. 

You may then ask him how he is, or whether he sleeps 
well. Then one of these three things will take place ; he 
will wake, he will not answer, or he will answer. 

If he awakes, somnambulism has not taken place, and 
you must not think any more respecting it in the course of 
that sitting. If he continues to sleep, without answering, 

F 



60 OF SOMNAMBULISM, [CHAP. IV. 

there is reason to suppose he is entering into the somnam- 
bulic state. If he answers without waking, and, after his 
waking, has no recollection of your speaking to him, the 
somnambulism is real. 

In case the patient continues to sleep without hearing you, 
you will continue to magnetize him as I have pointed out ; 
and you will wait, before you put him a second question, 
until the moment before that at which you think the sitting 
should be terminated. ^ 

If he makes no more answer to this question than to 
the first, you will leave him to sleep tranquilly, or if you 
judge it necessary to rouse him, you may merely make 
transversal passes at a distance, bidding him to awake, in 
a gentle voice, and not commanding him with a tone of 
authority. 

If the patient makes a sign that he understands you, yet 
without answering, you will beware of urging him to speak. 
It is a happy thing for him to be by himself, to collect 
himself, and accustom himself to his new condition, and to 
arrange his ideas. You will merely ask him to let you 
know by a motion of the head whether he desires to be 
awakened, or to sleep longer ; and you will conform your- 
self as much as possible to his wish. 

You will continue in the same manner during the suc- 
ceeding sittings. Yet if this state of mute somnambulism 
is prolonged, you will inquire of him whether he hopes 
very soon to acquire the faculty of speaking ; whether you 
magnetize him well ; if he finds himself better for it ; and 
you may make all inquiries of him which he can answer 
by a sign and without effort. 

Have a perfect command of yourself, and beware of 
employing your will to influence your patient to speak, or 



CHAP. IV.] AND ITS MANAGEMENT. 61 

to make his somnambulism more profound. Have but one 
intention, entertain but one wish, that of facilitating the 
cure ; and leave nature to employ, of herself, the increase 
of power which you give him. 

It may happen that his somnambulism will not proceed 
further ; but this is of no consequence ; it is not your object 
to render him a somnambulist, but to cure him. If som- 
nambulism were necessary, if his constitution rendered him 
susceptible of it, this state would spontaneously develope 
itself. Merely observe what peculiar precautions this demi- 
somnambulism requires ; such as, not suffering those to 
approach him who are not in communication with him, not 
to oppose him, not to awaken him roughly, and to continue 
to occupy yourself about him. 

If your patient speaks, and to the question, "Do )'0u 
sleep?" answers, "Yes;" he is a somnambulist, but it does 
not follow that he is endowed with clairvoyance. 

Some persons have distinguished many degrees or shades 
of somnambulism. It is useless to occupy your time with 
all that, and there is no need for me to enter into this 
examination, to point out to you the surest and the most 
simple path, and te instruct you how to draw all the advan- 
tages possible from somnambulism, at whatever degree it 
may occur. 

When your somnambulist shall have given an affirmative 
answer to your first question, " Are you asleep ?" you may 
address others to him. These questions should be simple, 
clear, well adapted, and concise ; they should be made 
slowly, with an interval between them, leaving the som- 
nambulist all the time he wishes to reflect upon them. If 
you have been able to suppress your curiosity, which is 



62 OF SOMNAMBULISM, [CHAP. IV. 

always more or less injurious, if you do not suffer yourself 
to be astonished to see one who is asleep answer you with 
propriety, if you have no other end in view but the doing 
of good, if you do not think of collecting observations, you 
will put only those questions which are necessary, The 
response made to the first one, will suggest others to you, 
always in relation to the means of curing the patient. 

The following may serve as an example of the series of 
questions to be first put to your somnambulist. 

Do you feel well ? 

Does my manner of proceeding agree with you ? 

Will you point out any other mode ? 

How long shall I let you sleep ? 

How shall I wake you ? 

When shall I magnetize you again ? 

Have you anyMirections to give me ? 

Do you think I shall succeed in curing you ? 

These questions will assuredly be enough for the first day 
when somnambulism has been induced. At the next sitting 
it ought to be induced sooner ; but you will not try to bring 
it on immediately, by charging the head. You will first 
employ magnetism by the long pass, anJ when your som- 
nambulist assures you that he is sleeping, you will let him 
have a little time ionger to collect himself. 

Then, after having repeated some of the preceding ques- 
tions, you may ask him whether he sees where his disease 
is ; if he says yes, you may request him to describe it ; if 
he says no, you may persuade him to look for it, observing 
to keep his attention to the point. You will take care not 
to form your questions in such a manner as to suggest 
replies which he can make without reflection, through 



CHAP. IV.] AND ITS MANAGEMENT. 63 

indolence, or the desire of pleasing you ; you must let him 
be occupied wholly with himself, with his disease, and with 
the means of cure. 

When he has once explained to you what he thinks of the 
nature of his disease, of its causes, of its consequences, of 
the crises he expects, you should ask him to search out the 
remedial means proper to be pursued in connection with 
magnetism. You should listen to him attentively ; you 
should take notes of what he tells you, if you are fearful of 
forgetting it. You should ask him whether he is very sure 
of the effect which his prescriptions will produce. And if 
in them there is found any thing which appears to you im- 
proper, you should make known to him your objections. 

You should especially take care to inform yourself well 
of the crises which are to bring on the cure, that you may 
not be alarmed at such as he has announced, and that you 
may know well the mode of soothing them. 

You must be exact in magnetizing him at the hour indi- 
cated by him, and by the processes which he judges most 
appropriate. You must ask him what things you ought to 
let him forget, what things it is proper to warn him of, and 
what means it is proper to take to induce him to follow out 
his own prescriptions. 

When he is awake, you should let him be entirely igno- 
rant of his being a somnambulist, and not let him suspect 
that he has spoken, provided he has not of himself expressly 
recommended that you should inform him of it, either to in- 
spire him with confidence in regard to any thing that disturbs 
him, or to induce him to follow a course of regimen, or to 
do something useful, which when he is awake is counter to 
his inclination. But, in this case, you will merely tell him 






p* 



64 OF SOMNAMBULISM, [CHAP. IV* 

what he believed absolutely necessary to know, and you 
will entreat him not to speak about it to any person. It is 
very rare that a patient has the curiosity to be informed of 
what he has said in a state of somnambulism. I believe, 
also, that it never happens, when the magnetizer, during 
somnambulism, has forbidden him to meddle with it after 
waking. 

I have indicated the kind of conversation you ought to 
hold with your somnambulist. I cannot insist too much 
upon a point on which chiefly depends the developement 
and the direction of his faculties. I cannot give any advice 
in relation to the details, because it would not be equally 
applicable to all cases. But there is a general rule from 
which you ought never to depart ; which is, never on any 
account, to permit any question of curiosity, any attempt to 
prove the lucidity of your somnambulist ; to speak to him 
solely of his disease ; to direct all his attention to the means 
he ought to adopt for the restoration of his health. His 
cure is your essential object, your principal aim ; you 
should not desert it for a moment. 

I know that one may sometimes profit by the confidence 
of a somnambulist, to combine with him the means of cor- 
recting his faults, .and of rendering his conduct more regu- 
lar, to break off dangerous associations, and in fine to apply 
to his ordinary state, the elevated moral sensibility which 
he exhibits in somnambulism. In this, one will not depart 
from the rule I have perscribed ; he merely gives it a greater 
extension. For it is then, in effect, a question about pre- 
venting or curing a moral disease, more distinctive than a 
physical one, and which often aggravates the latter. You 
are doing right, since you have really no other object in 



CHAP. IV.] AND ITS MANAGEMENT. 65 

view, no other idea, than the intention of doing good to him 
whom you magnetize ; and do not engage him except in 
that which is most essential to him. 

The faculties of somnambulists are limited Their surpris- 
ing penetration may be regarded as the effect of a concen- 
tration upon one single class of sensations, upon one or- 
der of ideas ; the more their attention is distracted by va- 
rious subjects, the less of it will they give to the essential 
object. 

If your somnambulist appears to meddle with things 
which do not promote his return to health, employ your 
will to withdraw him from them ; do not hear him ; and 
especially do not appear as if you were astonished at the 
proofs which he affords of his lucidity. You will excite his 
vanity, and that is very dangerous ; for when you have 
once awakened in him this sentiment, to which somnambu- 
lists are in general very much inclined, you can no more 
depend upon any thing. 

In the state of somnambulism, the moral sensibility is or- 
dinarily much more lively, and the somnambulists are often 
disposed to abandon themselves to the ideas or the senti- 
ments which have affected them in their common state. 
Endeavor to withdraw them from these, or at least do not 
say or do any thing which might favor this disposition. 

There are some somnambulists endowed with a surpris- 
ing clairvoyance which is extended to objects which are 
very distant, and entirely foreign to what interests them in 
the wakeful state. But these somnambulists are rare, and 
it is only with a great deal of precaution and reserve that 
we should have recourse to them. I shall return to this 
subject after having finished what I have to say about ordi- 
nary somnambulists. 



66 OF SOMNAMBULISM, [CHAP. IV. 

It would be advantageous to the somnambulist to be 
alone with his magnetizer. As in most circumstances that 
would be inconvenient or improper, you will be careful to 
have only one witness, who is always to be the same per- 
son, and who takes an interest in the patient. You will 
banish all useless witnesses, all who are excited by mere 
curiosity, and especially all the incredulous. All such, 
must of necessity, distract your attention. He who is con- 
scious that another is watching his motions, does not act 
with the same single-mindedness and the same freedom, as 
he does who thinks himself alone. The idea of the judg- 
ment which the spectators will form, seizes him from time 
to time in spite of himself, and that prevents him from con- 
centrating all his faculties upon a single object. The 
more you are observed, with the less advantage will you 
magnetize, 

If there is a physician to whom you have imparted your 
attempt to pursue a magnetic treatment, and whom you 
have also engaged to attend when wanted, you will cer- 
tainly have a desire to let him see your somnambulist, either 
to convince him of the effects which you produce, or to give 
him an opportunity of forming an opinion upon the charac- 
ter of the disease-; but guard well against yielding to this 
conceit, which appears to have a useful purpose, though it 
really has its source in vanity. Nothing is more hurtful 
to a somnambulist than the presence of a physician who is 
not familiarized to the processes and the phenomena of 
magnetism. The physician and the somnambulist do not 
speak the same language ; they do not see in the same 
manner. Your somnambulist would wish to convince the 
physician ; he will conduct his conversation with much ad- 



CHAP. IV.] AND ITS MANAGEMENT. 67 

dress ; he will seek to answer all difficulties ; he will lose 
that simplicity which is necessary for his clairvoyance ; 
he will depart from the line which nature lias traced out 
for him ; he will make use of all the resources of his mind ; 
and, in the same degree, he will cease to have the facul- 
ties which are really useful to him. Give an account to 
the physician of what takes place, and you will do well ; 
but limit yourself to a simple and sincere relation of facts. 
What he does not believe on your authority, he will be- 
lieve no better when he sees it, unless he has made ex- 
periments, and every experiment is extremely injurious. 

To the reasons which I have given for excluding all 
kinds of witnesses, I can add another, which is stronger than 
the others. 

There are in most somnambulists a developement of sen- 
sibility, of which we can have no conception. They are 
susceptible of receiving influence from every thing that sur- 
rounds them, and principally from living beings. They are 
not only affected by physical emanations, or the effluvia of 
living bodies ; but also, to a degree much more surprising, 
by the thoughts and sentiments of those who surround them, 
or who are busy with them. 

If you are alone with a somnambulist, and any one is 
permitted to enter, the somnambulist generally perceives it. 
Sometimes the person who enters is indifferent to him ; at 
other times he feels for him either a sympathy or an an- 
tipathy. In either case it diminishes his concentrativeness. 
If he entertains a sympathy, his attention is divided ; if an 
antipathy, he suffers. If the stranger is incredulous, and 
suspects the sincerity of the somnambulist, or makes a jest 
of what he sees, the somnambulist is troubled and loses his 



68 OF SOMNAMBULISM, [CHAP. IV. 

lucidity. If many witnesses surround the somnambulist 
and are occupied about him, the fluid of each one of them 
acts upon his organization, and as these various fluids are 
not in harmony, he experiences discordant effects from 
them. If you have around you only the persons who de- 
sire the cure of the patient, and if you magnetize them all 
to put them in communication, and all are in good health, 
the somnambulist may not be in the least disquieted. But 
it will be difficult to prevent many of the spectators from 
often occupying themselves with other things besides the 
patient. For, every time they occupy themselves with 
something else, they will break the communication, and 
these interruptions produce shocks, (secousses,) which dis- 
turb the tranquil reign of somnambulism. There is some- 
times among the spectators, some one who inspires the som- 
nambulist with a particular affection, of the most exalted 
kind ; and that would turn him aside from his attention to 
himself; the will of the magnetizer being no longer active, 
he does not exert the same control, and the somnambulism 
takes an irregular character. The greater part of som- 
nambulists, even in the hands of good magnetizers, have 
lost a portion of their faculties, because many persons in 
succession have been permitted to see them. 

At the close of the preceding chapter I said that in a mag- 
netic treatment, there ought to be only one will active, to 
which all others ought to be subordinate. This rule is es- 
pecially to be observed when you have somnambulists. 
M. de Puysegur has not failed to call attention to this ; and 
yet many well-informed magnetizers do not pay sufficient 
regard to it. As to those who try it for the first time, it is 
almost impossible that they should feel the importance of it y 



CHAP. IV.] AND ITS MANAGEMENT. 69 

and that even the desire of enlightening themselves upon the 
means of doing more good, should not mislead them from 
the path which would conduct them most surely to the ac- 
complishment of their object. 

It is proper to enter into some details upon this head. 

When a person who has no experience, obtains for the 
first time some of the singular effects which generally pre- 
cede lucid somnambulism, he thinks it would be useful to 
get acquainted with an experienced magnetizer. If he 
finds one, he entreats him to come and assist at the sittings, 
to give him instructions. This conduct, which is inspired 
by a very praiseworthy motive, is nevertheless in need of 
precaution, and I cannot point out the precautions except 
by recalling attention to two phenomena, the reality of 
which a great number of magnetic experiments demon- 
strate. 

1st. Somnambulists, or the persons who are in a mag- 
netic state, feel the influence of those who approach them, 
especially of those who have an active will. 

2d. Persons who are in the habit of magnetizing, natu- 
rally emit the fluid from them, and act powerfully, even 
without a determinate intention, upon those who are in the 
magnetic state. 

From this it follows that the presence of a magnetizer is 
never a matter of indifference, and that in certain circum- 
stances it might be more hurtful than that of one who comes 
out of curiosity. If the magnetizer disapproves of any of 
your processes, if he counteracts your action in any man- 
ner whatever, he will do an injury to your somnambulist. 
This inconvenience can always be avoided if he provides 
against it, if he is attentive to himself, and if, on your part, 
you take the necessary precautions. 



70 OF SOMNAMBULISM, [CHAP. IV. 

When then you desire to consult with a magnetizer, and 
call him in to see your somnambulist, this magnetizer must 
put himself in communication with you, must submit his will 
to yours, must beware of acting alone, must occupy him- 
self only in concurring to the good you wish to do, must 
not seek the reason of the processes you employ, must 
not pretend to direct you in any thing, so that nothing shall 
affect your somnambulist except through you. When the 
sitting is ended, the magnetizer can make his observations 
and give you advice ; and, after having reflected upon the 
principles he has given you, you can adopt and make use of 
them. 

In my Critical History, book first, chapter fourth, I have 
related what took place the first time I produced somnam- 
bulism. I was a mere novice. I invited a magnetizer, a 
pupil of Mesmer, and who had great power, to instruct me 
how to make my somnambulist speak. He came to see him ; 
he did not touch him, and yet he exercised such an influence 
upon him, that the course of the somnambulism was entire- 
ly deranged, and my young somnambulist who had exhibit- 
ed for several days the most extraordinary clairvoyance, 
ceased to manifest his different faculties, to acquire suddenly 
that of expressing himself by words, and made no progress 
afterwards. May the instruction which I now give, cause 
others to avoid the numerous faults I committed before I ac- 
quired experience of my own ! 

I might here enter into many details relative to the es- 
sential character of somnambulism, the general cause of 
the innumerable modifications it presents, the distinction be- 
tween the states of wakefulness, sleep, and delirium ; and to 
the transitions from one of these states to another ; but I 



CHAP, IV.] AND ITS MANAGEMENT. 71 

resolved to abstain from all theory, and limit myself to the 
giving of precepts, which I believe correct, without explain- 
ing the reasons of my adopting them. I will then simply 
say : 

If your patient become a somnambulist, have near you 
only the witness whom you admitted at the commencement, 
and who is in communication with you. Refuse absolutely 
to show him to any curious person, and let no one approach 
him except when it will be of utility, and with the precau- 
tions which I shall soon indicate. Put no questions to him 
except such as relate to his health, and graduate these 
questions so as not to fatigue him. Do not seek for won- 
derful effects; refrain, by all means, from relating those 
which you have seen. You can give yourself this satisfac- 
tion when the treatment is ended ; but until then, you ought 
to think only of the cure. 

If your somnambulist prescribes remedies for himself, 
you will contrive with him the means proper to be followed 
to induce him to take them when he is awakened. 

If among the remedies there are some that you cannot 
procure, or whose application presents too great difficulty, 
you will induce him to substitute others. If he requests 
you to magnetize him at an hour or under circumstances 
which render it impossible to you, you will explain to him 
the reasons that oppose it, and determine him to search out 
the means of supplying your presence, at the moment when 
he thinks it would be necessary to him. 

Some somnambulists, after having announced that their 
condition is very serious, consider it with a sort of indiffer- 
ence, and do not wish to give themselves the trouble of 
looking for a remedy. Others manifest a reluctance to 

G 



72 OF SOMNAMBULISM, [CHAP. IV. 

examine their disease. The sight of the disorder which 
they perceive in their internal organs, affrights them. 
When this is the case, you must not partake of the fears of 
your somnambulist. You must exert the power of your 
will to determine him to a very scrupulous examination of 
his complaint, to consider without affright the interior of his 
own body, as if it were not his own, and to make efforts to 
discover the means of cure. If you are calm, and know 
how to exert your will, your somnambulist will certainly 
obey you ; he will recover himself, and explain to you the 
actual danger, and the means of removing it. Perhaps 
you will not succeed in curing him ; but you will procure 
him all the soothing influence possible, and you will know 
to what you ought to direct your efforts. Do not lose hope, 
even when he assures you that his disease is incurable. 
Somnambulists ha¥e often said at the first sittings, that it 
was impossible to rescue them from death, and afterwards 
have found the means of restoration to health. 

When your somnambulist gives you a description of his 
disease, you must listen without interrupting him.* You 
may afterwards request him to explain more clearly and 
more in detail, what you were not able to understand. 
You may interrogate him about things which you ought to 
be acquainted with in order to perform your own duty well, 
but you should go no further. Ask him no anatomical 
questions. He perceives the seat of his own disorder ; he 
sees the lesion which existsin one part ; but it is rare that 
he sees the situation, the form, and the tissue of his organs, 
especially of those which are not affected. If you make 
him talk beyond this, you will obtain from him only vague 
and perhaps erroneous views. He will not make a mistake 



CHAP. IV.] AMD ITS MANAGEMENT. 73 

either in foretelling a crisis, in pointing out a remedy, or in 
describing the effects it will produce ; but he could easily 
give you explanations which would be ridiculous in the 
ratio of the interest you display in hearing them. You do 
not interrogate your somnambulist to dissipate your doubts, 
for you ought not to have doubts ; if you have, you would 
magnetize very badly ; nor is it to satisfy your curiosity, 
for this would withdraw you from the principal object ; nor 
is it, finally, to acquire a knowledge of physiology, anatomy 
or medicine ; for what a somnambulist says is not applicable 
to any but himself. Confine yourself to the knowledge 
of what is requisite for his restoration, and take care not to 
let his imagination dwell upon things foreign to this object. 
If he busies himself about persons absent, bring him back 
to what concerns himself, without permitting yourself to 
wonder at the faculty he possesses of seeing at a distance, 
and without seeking new proofs of this faculty. 

Some circumstances authorize the magnetizer to admit 
some one to his treatment ; there are also some which make 
it his duty to do it. I will give examples, and show how 
one ought to conduct himself in such cases. If your som- 
nambulist often mentions to you a person who interests him, 
and desires you to bring him in, and you see no inconvenience 
in doing it, you may yield to his wish. Thus a woman in 
the magnetic state might be continually dwelling upon her 
daughter, whose state of health gives her anxiety, and to 
whom she wishes to give advice. Do not refuse to let her 
enter, and put her in communication. The same might be 
said of a husband, or an intimate friend. 

If your somnambulist gives proofs of remarkable lucidity, 
and affirms that he is able to know the disease of another, 



74 OF SOMNAMBULISM, [CHAP. IV. 

as well as his own, and if a consultation would not fatigue 
him, you could consent to it, in order to render service to 
one who desires it, and has confidence. But these consul- 
tations ought to be rare, and you ought never to permit two 
to be held the same day. You ought also to avoid trusting 
the direction of many patients at a time to a somnambulist. 
He can hardly take the same interest in all, identify himself 
alternately with each, and manage them well. As to the 
rest, it depends upon the faculties of the somnambulists.* 
In all cases, it is necessary to avoid fatiguing them. 

Before introducing a patient to your somnambulist, you 
will let him touch something that the patient has worn, 
so that he may tell you whether he feels any repugnance 
to it, and whether he sees any danger in being put in 
communication wjth him. When you have introduced 
the patient, you will require him to speak only of his 
health, and if the conversation takes another turn, you will 
oppose it. 

You will not permit any one to give your somnambulist 
any token of gratitude ; he should not be moved by any 
other desire than that of doing good. 

You will not suffer your somnambulist to be magnetized 
indiscriminately by any person. The somnambulists who 
are in communication with several magnetizers, end by 
losing their lucidity. 

If indispensable business forces you to interrupt the 
treatment of your somnambulist, have an understanding 
with him to find some one to supply your place. Should 

* The sensibility, the clairvoyance, the power of attention, differ 
prodigiously in different somnambulists, and in the same somnam- 
bulists at various times. 



CHAP. IV.] AND ITS MANAGEMENT. 75 

the interruption be only for a few days, the magnetizer 
taking your place, should act only in your name, according 
to your views and your method, and under your direction. 
If the interruption is to be of long continuance, you should 
give up your somnambulist entirely. 

If your somnambulist has caprices, you will oppose them 
by letting him know your will, without dispute. Never 
suffer him to get the upper hand of you. You ought to 
yield all that will conduce to his good, and resist his fantastic 
notions. You are for him an attentive and benevolent? but 
a just and inflexible providence. 

If your somnambulist has pangs of conscience, (peines 
morales,) which aggravate his malady, seek with him the 
means of easing them. You will console him, and profit by 
his confidence to soften his chagrin, and destroy the cause. 
If he has any inclinations which you disapprove of, employ 
your ascendancy in vanquishing them. 

You must avoid most carefully, penetrating into the se- 
crets of your somnambulists, when it is not evidently useful 
to him to have these secrets known to you. I need not 
add, that if he tells you things which he would not have 
told you in the ordinary state, you will never permit your- 
self to impart it to any person, not even to your most inti- 
mate friend. 

I have already said, that if the somnambulist prescribes 
for himself, remedies which appear improper for his state, 
the magnetizer ought not to depend upon his first sugges- 
tion. I ought to insist upon this point. 

It is infinitely rare that a somnambulist orders for him- 
self a remedy which would be injurious to him, or mis- 
takes in regard to the doses ; yet this may happen, for there 



G* 



76 OF SOMNAMBULISM, [CHAP. IV, 

are instances of it ; and though it happen but once in a 
thousand times, it would be a sufficient reason for taking 
the greatest precautions. I am going to explain the possi- 
ble causes of mistakes, and the means of preventing the con. 
sequences. 

The state of somnambulism is not always accompanied 
with a perfect clairvoyance ; and that clairvoyance, when 
it is manifested id the most surprising manner, is often rela- 
tive to a certain order of ideas, and variable in its inten- 
sity. For the proper exercise of it, the somnambulist must 
concentrate his faculties upon a single object, without dis- 
traction, without trouble, without the intervention of any 
foreign influence to change the direction of his mind. It is 
necessary that the interest he takes in the object which oc- 
cupies his mind, should determine him to make efforts of 
attention, to vanquish his indolence, and free himself from 
all the prejudices of his ordinary state. One might te]l me 
that the interest which the somnambulist takes in his own 
health, will prevail with him over every other considera- 
tion ; that he will see his own body more distinctly than 
any thing else ; and if there be in him an instinctive faculty, 
he will exercise it upon his own wants. This would appear 
to be the case, but it is not always so. 

Many somnambulists, either through vanity or excess of 
benevolence, are more fond of being busy about others 
than about themselves. Others are unwilling to examine 
their own disease and the consequences it may have ; others 
again, seem to set little value upon their cure. They think 
they shall be more happy, when their souls shall be freed 
from the bondage of matter. The magnetizer, instead of 
being amazed at this species of exaltation, should employ 



CHAP* IV.] AND ITS MANAGEMENT. 77 

all the power of his will to bring it to an end, and to induce 
the somnambulist to be occupied only with his own health. 
All that I have said in this chapter tends to show the im- 
portance of these principles, and if my readers have confi- 
dence in me, they will keep themselves free from enthusi- 
asm, which is much more dangerous than incredulity. 

But suppose a somnambulist is occupied only about his 
own physical state, and his own cure ; suppose his clairvoy- 
ance is real, and he speaks from his actual perceptions, and 
not from anterior impressions ; he may nevertheless com- 
mit an error in the treatment he prescribes for himself. 
This is owing to a cause to which it is proper to call atten- 
tion. 

It often happens that a patient when put into a state of 
somnambulism, is afflicted at the same time with several 
very dangerous diseases ; and that the treatment which is 
proper for one, is not proper for another. The somnambu- 
list at first is employed upon the organ the most affected, 
the most severe and painful malady ; he fixes his attention 
upon that which gives him the most uneasiness; and in 
consequence prescribes remedies for himself, without exam- 
ining whether they are not otherwise injurious. I have 
lately seen an instance of this. A somnambulist whose 
lungs were affected, and whose stomach was much impaired, 
ordered for her stomach, a remedy which would have 
probably aggravated the disease of the lungs. The mag- 
netizer made some observations to her about it ; she agreed 
that these observations were just ; she put off the use of the 
remedy she had prescribed for herself; and fifteen days 
afterwards she cried out of her own accord, " How glad I 
am that you did not permit me to take the medicine I 



78 OF SOMNAMBULISM, [CHAP. IV. 

thought of taking ; now the state of my lungs allows me to 
make use of it." She was in fact cured. She would not 
have been, if the magnetizer had been less prudent. It 
may be laid down as a general rule, that when the som- 
nambulist is attacked by several diseases, he is naturally 
induced to fix his attention upon that which appears to him 
the most serious. 

Some precautions will now be given by which you may 
be sure of preventing the dangers springing from too much 
precipitation, or from blind confidence. 

When your somnambulist prescribes for himself a rem- 
edy which appears to be unsuitable to his condition, you 
will make your objections to him ; you will engage him to 
examine the state of his organs successively, and with the 
greatest attention, and give you an account of them. You 
will request him to explain the reasons which have induced 
him to choose the remedy in question, and to describe ac- 
curately the effects he anticipates from it. You will pre- 
sent him the medicine and make him touch and taste it. 
You will request him to tell what a dose should be, not 
only by the name of the measure or weight, but by show- 
ing you the quantity which he wishes to take. If after 
all these precautions, he persists, you may depend upon 
him. 

It seems impossible to me that, in the state of somnambu- 
lism, an individual should entertain the criminal project of 
putting an end to his own existence ; and I could not be- 
lieve that, after having carefully examined a deleterious 
substance, he would not reject it. Yet if it should happen 
that the prescription of a somnambulist may put his life in 
imminent danger, the magnetizer, it is evident, ought not to 



CHAP. IV.] AND ITS MANAGEMENT. 79 

conform to it. Repeated proofs of great clairvoyance and 
purity of intention, are doubtless powerful motives of con- 
fidence. But they do not give us the entire certainty, 
which alone may authorize us to make use of an unknown 
means, where an error would be attended with fatal conse- 
quences.* 

Somnambulists often prescribe for themselves remedies 
which they have heard spoken of, or of which they have 
formerly made trial ; in place of which one might substitute 
others much more efficacious. You should then call their 
attention to that which appears more proper for them, and 
discuss the motives of their choice. 

Many things might be added in relation to the direction 
of somnambulists; but I think they will be naturally deduced 
from the principles which I have laid down. 

I return to the manner of applying the processes when 
somnambulism has been induced. 

The somnambulist always indicates the processes which 
are proper for him ; so that there can be no uncertainty 

* An epileptic patient who was under magnetic treatment at the 
Saltpetriere Hospital, declared the only means of curing her, would 
be to excite in her, in the most critical circumstances, and by vio- 
lent means, a sudden fright, which would naturally put her life in 
the greatest danger. For three months she insisted upon the same 
thing. They finally resolved to follow her advice, and the result 
was a cure. But they who did this were able physicians. The}- 
knew the desperate state of the patient ; they had never seen her 
make mistakes ; they judged that the shock indicated might pro. 
duce a salutary crisis, which could not be obtained by any other 
means ; and their profession authorized them to calculate the 
chances of danger and success. A magnetizer, who was not a phy- 
sician, would not have been able to assume such a responsibility. 



80 OF SOMNAMBULISM, [ciIAP. IV. 

about them. These processes, a re sometimes very laborious 
and very fatiguing to the magnetizer; they demand from 
him patience, courage, and devotedness ; yet they are 
indispensable to deveiope and happily terminate a crisis 
essential to the cure; but this is very seldom. The greater 
part of the time, nature labors alone during somnambulism, 
and you have no need of doing any thing more than to hold 
the thumbs of the somnambulist, or place your hand upon 
his knees, or even to be busy about him. 

You need not magnetize him longer than he judges useful, 
on the days and at the hour he intimates. If it is essential 
not to interrupt a crisis at its commencement, it is often 
injurious to prolong it beyond the necessary time. 

There are somnambulists who fear the impression of too 
strong a light. "I have seen some of them who caused 
themselves to be bandaged across the eyes ; but there are 
others who experience fatigue by closing the eyelids, and 
who request to have their eyes opened. The magnetizer 
succeeds in doing this by making passes across the eyes, 
without its diminishing the intensity of somnambulism. The 
somnambulist then seems to be in his natural state ; but it 
is necessary to watch over him with the precautions he 
indicates. There are cases when this non-apparent som- 
nambulism can be very useful, as we shall soon see. 

When we wish to ask the somnambulist a question, it is 
necessary to explain our will by words. Good somnam- 
bulists understand the will without our speaking to them. 
But why should we employ this mode when there is no need 
of it? It is an experiment, and it is a rule which every 
one ought to adopt, to interdict all experiment. I agree 
that there are cases where it is expedient to employ only 



CHAP. IV.] AND ITS MANAGEMENT. 81 

the influence of the will. For instance, there may be near 
you a third person, and you perceive your somnambulist, 
who thinks himself alone with you, about to say things 
which this third person ought not to know ; you will impose 
silence by your will. 

At the close of the sitting, when you wish to waken your 
somnambulist, you will first make passes along the legs to 
free the head, then you will make some across the eyes to 
open them, saying to him, wake ! The eyes often remain 
shut after the somnambulist is awakened. You will bring 
them from this condition, by patiently passing your fingers 
many times across them. Then you will disperse the fluid 
from the head, and from the rest of the body, by passes 
made crosswise at a distance, in order to scatter and 
shake it off. You will have the precaution to continue this 
until your somnambulist shall be perfectly roused from sleep. 

It is of the very greatest consequence to establish a line 
of demarkation, well defined, between the state of somnam- 
bulism, and the natural state of wakefulness. The som- 
nambulist, when he is awakened, ought to preserve nothing, 
positively nothing, of the sensations which he experienced, 
nor of the ideas which occupied him in somnambulism. Som- 
nambulism, prolonged beyond the necessary time, imparts 
a nervous susceptibility which is attended with great incon- 
veniences ; it ought to cease after the cure. If it should 
continue and renew itself spontaneously, it would itself be a 
disease. 

I have already noticed that it would always be expedient, 
as far as possible, to let the patient remain ignorant that he 
has been a somnambulist ; and that, excepting certain very 
rare cases, it is proper never to repeat what he may have 



82 OF SOMNAMBULISM, [CHAP. IV. 

uttered. For it would establish between the ideas of the 
natural state, and those of somnambulism, a relation which 
is contrary to the natural order ; and which equally alters 
the habitual faculties, and the somnambulic faculties. If 
you know how to control yourself by your own will, your 
patient will never be informed of any thing which you think 
ought to be kept from him. 

Somnambulists perfectly abstracted, whose interior facul- 
ties have acquired great energy, are often found in a frame 
of mind of which you might avail yourself advantageously 
to make them follow a course of regimen, or to make them 
do things useful for them, but contrary to their habits and 
inclinations. The magnetizer can, after it has been mutu- 
ally agreed upon, impress upon them, while in the somnam- 
bulic state, an idea or a determination which will influence 
them in the natural state, without their knowing the cause. 
For instance, the magnetizer will say to the somnambulist, 
" You will return home at such an hour ; you will not go this 
evening to the theatre ; you will clothe yourself in such a man- 
lier ; you will take your medicines without being obstinate ; 
you will take no liquor ; you will drink no coffee ; you will 
occupy yourself no longer in such a thing ; you will drive 
away such a fear ; you will for gej, such a thing" The 
somnambulist will be naturallv induced to do what has been 
thus prescribed. He will recollect it without suspecting it 
to be any thing more than a recollection of what you have 
ordered for his benefit ; he will have a desire for what you 
have advised him, and a dislike to what you have inter- 
dicted. Take advantage of this empire of your will and of 
this concert with him, solely for the benefit of the patient. 
Your will probably acts merely in modifying his, and you 



CHAP. IV.] AND ITS MANAGEMENT. 83 

might obtain from him the performance of indifferent things 
to which he would devote himself to please you ; but this 
would be contrary to the spirit and design of magnetism. 

You may often find it in your power, while your patient 
is in the somnambulic state, to induce him to take a medi- 
cine for which he has a repugnance. I have seen a lady, 
who had a horror at the sight of leeches, cause them to be 
applied to her feet during somnambulism, and say to her 
magnetizer, " Prevent me from looking at my feet when I 
awake." In fact she never suspected that any one had 
applied leeches to her. 

Many somnambulists are endowed with inconceivable 
address, and can perform certain operations as well as the 
best surgeons. I am acquainted with a lady, who, in the 
state oY somnambulism, opened a swelling beneath her 
breast, and dressed the wound until it was healed. 

This address of somnambulists, can be useful to others as 
well as to themselves, especially when it is accompanied 
with clairvoyance ; there are some cases even, when they 
can render the greatest service, I will instance a midwife 
who, having become a somnambulist during a disease for 
which she caused herself to be magnetized, preserved the 
same faculties after her restoration to health. When she is 
called upon to exercise her profession, if the case appears 
to present any difficulties, she goes to her magnetizer, who 
puts her into somnambulism, and opens her eyes. She de- 
clared to me, that in this state, she could act with much 
more address, strength, and certainty. In January last, she 
in this manner very successfully delivered of three children, 
a woman whose state was very dangerous. 

Among the phenomena which somnambulism often pre- 
sents, there is one from which persons might, under certain 



84 OF SOMNAMBULISM, [cHAP. IV. 

circumstances, derive a great advantage. It is that of ab- 
solute insensibility. There are many somnambulists that 
one could pinch and prick very hard without their feeling 
it. One of the somnambulists that was in the Saltpetriere 
Hospital received no impression from a bottle of sal volatile 
applied to her nose ; and when experiments in magnetism 
were made at the Hotel Dieu Hospital, moxas were applied 
to two somnambulists who were not awakened by them. 
Persons have concluded from these dangerous experiments, 
that if a surgical operation were necessary to a patient 
susceptible of magnetism, it might de done without causing 
pain ; and it is true in certain cases. But although this in- 
sensibility is displayed by nearly all somnambulists, which 
have been at the Hotel Dieu and the Saltpetriere, it is far 
from being general. I am even inclined to think it would 
never occur, if the magnetizers did not overcharge their 
subjects, and if they took care to preserve the barroonj 
the system. My somnambulists have never exhibited it to 
me. On the contrary, their sensibility was more delicate 
than in the natural state ; the contact of a body not m 
netized was disagreeable to them ; and the touch of a stran- 
ger gave them a great deal of paifl. 1 am also certain that 
somnambulists have experienced convulsions, and ha\ 
awaked, by having been roughly touched by some one who 
was not in communication. 

I know that a magnetizer can by his will paralyze any 
limb of his somnambulist; but he ought never to permit 
himself the trial of this experiment. As to the rest, if a 
patient has need of an operation that is painful, we should 
learn from him whether it ought to be performed during 
somnambulism, or during the natural state, and what pre- 
cautions ought to be taken to insure success. 



CHAP. IV.] AND ITS MANAGEMENT. 85 

The absolute insensibility of the organs of sense and of 
those of motion, united to the exaltation of sentiment and 
of thought, are sometimes symptoms that life is drawing 
towards the brain and the epigastrium. The spirit seems 
then to disengage itself from the organs, and the somnam- 
bulist becomes independent of the will of the magnetizer. 

This state, to which the name of ecstasy, or magnetic 
exaltation has been given, and which many German authors 
have considered as the most elevated state of magnetism, is 
exceedingly dangerous. You could not suddenly wake 
one who is in it, and if you should succeed in doing it, he 
would remain in a state of excessive weakness, and perhaps 
of paralysis, which you could not put an end to without 
great exertion. I know not how, then, to recommend too 
highly to magnetizers to oppose the developement of this 
crisis. 1 believe even that it would hardly ever present 
its If, if the somnambulist were to busy himself only about 
his own health, and if one were to take care to free the 
head and to re-establish harmony, when he sees the limbs 
stiffen and become insensible. I shall return hereafter to 
this subject. 

The details into which I have entered, appear sufficient 
to make you acquainted with somnambulism, as it frequently 
presents itself in the course of a magnetic treatment, and 
of the means of directing it to a useful purpose, and of 
avoiding its inconveniences. I have also said with sufficient 
distinctness, that this crisis, if you oppose the workings of 
nature, might become as hurtful as it would be salutary if 
you have the wisdom to listen to her and aid her. I know 
that some instances of success obtained by imprudent rash- 
ness, might be cited ; but these instances are rare. Wise 



86 OF SOMNAMBULISM, [CHAP. IV, 

cautiousness can never be a disadvantage ; and when we 
desert it, we expose ourselves to the greatest dangers. 
There remains, then, nothing essential to say upon the 
application of somnambulism to the treatment of diseases ; 
and when I commenced writing this chapter, it did not enter 
into my plan to go farther.* I resolved to pass over in 
silence the extraordinary phenomena. I thought that those 
who had not seen analogous ones, would regard me as a 
visionary ; and that such a reputation would not only be 
afflictive to me, but might also put an obstacle in the way 
of my doing the good which I wish to do ; for people will 
be guided by the counsels of a man subject to illusions, no 
more than by those of a man void of good faith. But after 
having devoted reflection to it, I thought it my duty to yield 
to more important considerations, and to elevate myself 
above the fears excited by self-love. I am determined 
then to speak of a very singular state, because it may be 
presented to others as it has been to me and to many of my 
friends, and which it is important to know, that it may not 

* Various somnambulists exhibit very different phenomena ; and 
the only distinctive and constant character of somnambulism, is, 
the existence of a new mode of perception. For instance, there are 
abstracted somnambulists; there are others who are not. Some of 
them exhibit a species of attraction like magnetic needles ; others 
have only the internal faculties. Some of them have all the sensa- 
tions concentrated at the epigastrium ; others make use of some of 
their senses. There are, finally, some of them, who? after wakino-, 
preserve for a certain time the recollection of the impressions they 
have received, and of the ideas they have had during the crisis. I 
was obliged to limit myself to explain what takes place most com- 
monly, and to teach what it is necessary to know to assist nature, 
and to derive from somnambulism the greatest advantage. 



CHAP. IV.] AND ITS MANAGEMENT. 87 

be confounded with the exaltation of which I have already 
pointed out the danger, and that its developement may not 
be counteracted. 

I am first going to describe the species of somnambulism 
of which I wish to speak. I will then tell how one ought 
to conduct himself with those who have reached that state, 
if he would derive any advantage from it, to them or to 
himself. 

In this state the circulation is regular, the heat is equal 
through all the body, and the members preserve their 
sensibility. The somnambulist is so thoroughly in com- 
munication with his magnetizer as to read his thoughts, but 
receives no impression through the organs of sense. It 
is no longer the sensation which produces ideas ; on the 
contrary it is the ideas which produce sensations. In the 
ordinary state every thing parts from the circumference 
to reach the center ; in this, every thing parts from the 
center to reach the circumference ; and this circumference 
sometimes extends to illimitable distances. But it is not 
this which characterizes the degree of somnambulism of 
which I speak. It is the absolute indifference to what 
appertains to terrestrial objects, to the interests of fortune 
or of reputation. It is the absence of the passions and the 
opinions by which one is governed in the ordinary state, 
and of even all acquired ideas, of which they can very well 
preserve the recollection, but to which they no longer attach 
importance. It is the little interest that they take in life ; 
it is a novel manner of viewing objects ; it is a quick and 
direct judgment, accompanied with an intimate conviction. 
The somnambulist appears to have lost the faculties by 
which we are directed ; the impressions and notions which 

H* 



^6 OF SOMNAMBULISM, [CHAP. IV. 

come from without, do not reach him ; but during the silence 
which he observes in regard to what is foreign to his soul, 
he feels within himself the developement of a new lifj 
whose rays are darted upon all that < in him a real 

interest. At the same time the sentiment of conscientious- 
ness is aroused, and determines the judgment which he 
ought to form. Thus |] nnambulist po 

same time the torch which him his light, ami the 

compass that points out hi . Tlii i and 

compass are not the product of somnambulism; tli 
always in us; but the distfl s of this world, 

passions, and above all pride and attachment to ible 

things, prevent us from per* 
the other. 

When the somnambulist has f ex- 

altation, his manner of speaking is almost alwaj 
from that which he has in hi 
pure and simp . r uniini 

uncea in hi 

a distinct vi'-w of that of which i, and a* 

convict v. Jfou 

the least of what is e .<! I 

se who ha 

te without having Been it, have supposed it to has 
OSed to what it really has, and w 
serves to distinguish it. 

In this new situation, the mind ifl filled with religious 

is, with which perhaps it v 
He sees every where the action of IV . 1 

appears to him only a y , durin tight to 

collect what is necessary for us in our i 



CHAP. IV.] AND ITS MANAGEMENT. 89 

The independence of the soul, the liberty of man, immor- 
tality, are to him evident truths. He is convinced that 
God hears us; that prayer is the most efficacious means of 
obtaining his aid, and dissipating the ills around us, or at 
least of turning them to our advantage. Taking care to 
make our labors on earth, as well as the troubles we expe- 
rience, acceptable to God, appears a means of converting 
them into good works. 

Charity is for him the first of virtues ; that which affords 
us the easy means of expiating our sins, and which often 
suffices to obtain their remission. He is so much penetrated 
with it, that he forgets himself for others, and no sacrifice 
for the sake of doing good costs him too much. This 
sentiment of benevolence is extended to all, and he makes 
supplications for those who hold opinions the most opposite 
to his own. Sometimes the prodigious difference he per- 
ceives between his new manner of viewing objects, and 
that which he had in his ordinary state, the new lights 
which shine for him, the new faculties with which he finds 
himself endowed, the immensity of the horizon which is 
spread before his eyes, persuade him that he is inspired ; 
what he says seems to be dictated by a voice from within ; 
what he sees is shown to him; he regards himself as the 
organ of a superior intelligence ; but this does not excite 
his vanity. He delights to reflect in silence, and he speaks 
to you only to say things useful for your moral direction. 

Happy the man who has chanced to meet a somnambulist 
of this kind ; for there is no means of bringing forth from 
an ordinary somnambulist, the faculties I have just described. 
It is a horologe fabricated by nature ; we can easily dis- 
turb its movements, but we can neither set it agoing, nor 



90 OF SOMNAMBULISM, [CHAP. IV. 

regulate it, because we are unacquainted with its springs. 
We must consult it, but we must not permit ourselves to 
touch it for the purpose of accelerating or retarding it's 
motion. 

If then you see the state of which I am speaking manifest 
itself, you should listen attentively to your somnambulist. 
You will put no question, for the moment you design to 
direct him, you will cause him to leave the sphere in which 
he is ; you will turn aside his faculties from the object for 
which they are destined, and transport him into an immense 
field of illusions. The power of your will, however great 
it may be, cannot force him to see beyond the circle in 
which he is placed. If you mingle your ideas with his, 
your conjectures with his perceptions, you will obscure his 
clairvoyance. -The only mode for you to pursue, is to 
favor its developement and its application. It is the confi- 
dence and the simplicity that you show, not by your words, 
but by the disposition of your soul, which has need of no 
expression in order to be perceived and recognised by him. 

Without doubt, some person will say to me, But where 
is the proof that this state of my somnambulist is not owing 
to a peculiar disposition of his imagination, which causes 
him to mistake chimerical ideas for correct notions ? Ought 
I to withdraw my reason to grant him a blind confidence ? 
And how shall I assure myself of the truth of what he tells 
me, if I do not combat his opinions in order to hear his 
replies, and appreciate their correctness and their worth ? 

I will answer you in this manner. I. am very far from 
advising you to renounce your reason in order to adopt the 
ideas and follow the instructions of a somnambulist. On 
the contrary, your reason and good sense must combine 



CHAP. IV.] AND ITS MANAGEMENT. 91 

the whole, and your decision must spring from their proper 
exercise. But it is necessary to point out two conditions. 
While your somnambulist is giving utterance to his ideas, 
you will let him speak without interruption. You will not 
only make no objection, but you will banish from your 
mind all those which suggest themselves to you. You will 
not exert your will to influence or direct him. You will 
not demand of him an explanation of what he has told you, 
except when you have not well understood. You will not 
desire to know what he wishes to teach you of his own 
accord. You will also try not to be astonished at what 
appears to you extraordinary. You will not seek to pene- 
trate into that which appears incomprehensible. You will, 
above all, avoid putting your somnambulist to the proof, 
and taking indirect means to ascertain his clairvoyance. 
You will listen to him with self-forgetfulness, confidence, 
and simplicity, as a child listens to a mother when she 
relates things to form his heart and his understanding, while 
amusing his mind. But after he has re-entered the ordinary 
state, and you are away from him, you will recapitulate 
all he has told you ; you will examine the connexion of his 
ideas; you will appreciate the correctness of his reasonings; 
you will weigh the degree of utility in his instructions. 
You can then indulge your astonishment at the penetration 
with which he has read your heart, at the sincerity of his 
wishes for your real happiness, at the exactitude which he 
has shown you while speaking of a passed event with which 
he was not acquainted ; at the probability of his previsions 
of the future, which it is useful for you to know. But this 
astonishment should not bring on your conviction. The 
more marvellous a fact is, the more we ought to fear being 



92 OF SOMNAMBULISM, [CHAP. IV. 

seduced by appearances, to mistrust the impression they 
first make upon us, and search out the circumstances that 
may give them a natural explanation. 

Many somnambulists, when their faculties were exalted, 
have been known to read the thoughts of others, to have 
previsions, to be exempt from vanity, and moved solely by 
the desire of enlightening others; and yet to be the dupes 
of illusions which are mingled with the most luminous 
perceptions. You ought, then, to ascertain that his opinions 
are not produced by old impressions on the memory, by 
the prejudices of early youth, by lectures or conversations 
which have formerly acted temporarily upon his mind ; 
finally, that no exterior influence has contributed to impart 
a peculiar character to his manner of viewing things.* }£ 
in all he tells /ou there is nothing which cannot be verified, 
you will evidently perceive that he is not deceived, that the 



* There are somnambulists who retrace with surprising facility 
the ideas which they received in their infancy, and upon whom these 
ideas exercise more control than those which they have since ac- 
quired. A very lucid somnambulist magnetized by M. de Lausanne, 
afforded me a remarkable instance of this phenomenon. She was a 
woman about forty years old. She was born at St. Domingo, from 
whence she came to France at the age of six or seven years, and 
she had never afterwards been among Creoles. As soon as she was 
in the somnambulic state, she absolutely spoke nothing but the pe- 
culiar dialect (patois) which she had learned from the negress who 
had nursed her. In these recollections of infancy, in this return 
towards the first years of life, we must search for the cause of the 
opinions of some somnambulists. There are some of them who seem 
to forget the notions they have acquired by reason and observation, 
as they rctrogade by degrees towards the period when their mind* 
were but as smooth tablets. 



CHAP. IV.] AND ITS MANAGEMENT. 93 

torch by which he is enlightened has not been vacillating. 
Then your confidence will be excited by a train of facts 
and observations which determine your reasoning ; and not 
by discourses more or less eloquent ; by exhortations more 
or less affecting; by phenomena which are inexplicable, 
but which are seen elsewhere ; nor by images and descrip- 
tions more or less calculated to move us. It should be only 
after this examination, made in the spirit of reflection and 
in solitude, that you should form your judgment. It is 
essential that your belief should be supported by facts well 
demonstrated to your own mind, so that no objection may 
afterwards present itself which has not been settled before- 
hand ; because this belief, far from being a fugitive opinion, 
ought in certain respects to decide your conduct. 

Then, if it happens that your somnambulist enters several 
times in succession into the same state, you will continue to 
hear him without any expression of thankfulness, or appro- 
bation, but with a desiro to profit by what he will tell you ; 
and perhaps you will find in him a guide who will not lead 
you astray. He will, at least, convince you of the exist- 
ence of an order of things, different from the present order, 
and will bring you acquainted with the source of pure and 
durable felicity, which nothing external, terrestrial, and 
transient, can impart. 

The species of somnambulism which I have described, is 
extremely rare, and many persons will think that in a work 
designed to teach the use of magnetism, I ought to have ab- 
stained from speaking of it, because there is little probabil- 
ity of its being presented to my readers. To this, I answer, 
that if this state is rare, it is our own fault ; it doubtless 
supposes an unusual developement of the soul's faculties ; 



94 OF SOMNAMBULISM, [CHAP. IV. 

but this developement frequently takes place, and nearly all 
those who have practised magnetism have had it more or 
less in their power to observe it. If it has not been attend- 
ed with that pure lucidity of which I have seen examples, it 
is because they have disturbed or turned aside the natural 
tendency. I am persuaded, that out often somnambulists, 
who, left to themselves, would reach this state, nine have 
been thrust into a false direction. Their astonishing facul- 
ties have then made them run over a thousand paths in the 
vast domain of the imagination. Hence it has resulted that 
among those who have had opportunity to see this extraor- 
dinary somnambulism, some have regarded it as the result 
of a communication with spirits ; some, as a gift of proph- 
ecy ; others, as the effect of the soul's exaltation ; others, 
again, as a transient insanity. Sometimes we perceive in 
it illusions of the strangest kind, without any real founda- 
tion ; sometimes a mixture of superstitious notions with very 
astonishing previsions ; sometimes metaphoric language and 
incoherent images ; and people have formed various judg- 
ments of this state, according as they were most struck with 
what was presented of light and truth, or of darkness and 
illusion. Nothing of this would have existed, if the som- 
nambulist had been well directed, or rather, if he had not 
been led astray by the ignorance, the vanity, the curiosity 
of his magnetizer ; if the natural chain of his ideas had not 
been interrupted, to occupy him in subjects which were ab- 
solutely alien to him. 

The greater part of my readers will, without doubt, judge 
that I labor under an illusion in relation to the phenomena 
of which I have just given an account ; and I ought the 
more to expect it, because I would not myself believe until 



CHAP. IV.] AND ITS MANAGEMENT. 95 

I had been an eye-witness. I did not perceive their reality 
till very late, and long after I had published my Critical 
History ; but then they were frequently renewed before 
my eyes, and I am well convinced that I should have seen 
them sooner, if I had conducted myself with more single- 
ness of purpose. Those who will follow the instructions I 
have given, will have the same happiness that I have had ; 
and this consideration alone has determined me to give them 
precautions, by taking which they will profit by the favor- 
able circumstances, and not let slip an opportunity which 
does not occur when we search for it, but which we may 
seize when it comes in our way. 

I ought further to mention that this state is rarely much 
prolonged ; and that the magnetizer has no power whatever 
to reproduce it, when it has ceased to manifest itself. When 
the somnambulist has told you what he deemed important 
to tell you, his clairvoyance ceases, or at least is no longer 
engaged upon things of the same nature. You must profit 
by the moment. 

I do not pretend in any manner to discover the causes of 
the phenomena about which I have spoken. Every one 
can explain them as he chooses. The wisest way is not to 
search for an explanation. For in our waking state we 
can very well recognise by the effects, the existence of a 
new faculty in somnambulists, but we can no more determine 
the nature of it, than they who are blind from birth, can 
conceive the phenomena of vision. 

Perhaps some one will ask of me, whether the somnam- 
bulists of whom I speak, could not give us some light on 
the dogmas of religion, on the choice between the various 
forms of worship, and on certain questions which have 
I 



96 OF SOMNAMBULISM, [CHAP. IV. 

unhappily divided mankind. I can merely answer that I 
do not believe they can. But it is too essential an object 
to forewarn my readers against a curiosity, always useless 
and often dangerous, for me to neglect adding some obser- 
vations in this place to the principles I have already laid 
down. These details will also serve to make them the 
better distinguish the species of somnambulism to which I 
have called their attention. 

I have said that the somnambulist is illuminated by a 
light which our spirit received from God at the moment of 
its existence. {^This light, anterior to human education, 
shows to man that which is the foundation of all religion, as 
the conscience unveils to him that which is the foundation 
of all morals ,*)but it teaches him revealed dogmas no more 
than it does positive laws. 

What are the truths which are shown with evidence to 
the somnambulist ? The existence, the omnipotence, the 
bounty of the Creator ; the immortality of the soul ; the 
certainty of another life, the recompense of the good, the 
punishment of the evil which we have done in this ; Provi- 
dence, the necessity and efficacy of prayer, the pre-emi- 
nence of charity over the other virtues ; to which is joined 
the consoling idea that those who have preceded us on earth, 
and who have merited the enjoyment of eternal happiness, 
hear our wishes, take an interest in us, and may be our in- 
tercessors before God ; the profound conviction that God 
never refuses to enlighten us in what we ought to know, 
when, submitted to his will, we ask aid of him; the firm 
persuasion of the utility of worship, which, by uniting men 
to render homage to God, prescribes rules and practice to 
all, by which they pray in concert to obtain the blessings of 



CHAP* IV. ] AND ITS MANAGEMENT. 97 

hcaven. These are the ideas common to all religious som- 
nambulists. They go not beyond that, which is to say to 
you, in a general manner, to fulfil the duties which religion 
imposes upon you. But when you are once imbued with 
these principles, will you fail to have the means of instruc- 
tion; to know what you ought to believe and what you ought 
to practise ? 

But, says some one, I would like very much to interro- 
gate my somnambulist, and profit by his knowledge, to dis- 
sipate this or that doubt, to answer this or that objection. 
You will gain nothing ; you will even lose the advantages 
which you might derive from his lucidity. It is very pos- 
sible that you could make him speak upon all the subjects 
of your indiscreet curiosity ; but in that case, as I have al- 
ready warned you, you will make him leave his own sphere 
to introduce him into yours. He will no longer have any 
other resources than yourself. He will utter to you very 
eloquent discourses, but they will no more be dictated by the 
internal inspirations. They will be the product of his re- 
collections, or of his imagination ; perhaps you will also 
rouse his vanity, and then all is lost ; he will not re-enter 
the circle from which he has wandered. And how can you 
suppose that a light, which is innate in all men, should 
throw its rays beyond that of revelation ? Is it not enough 
that it brings us to recognise the advantages of this revela- 
tion ? If you are in an obscure labyrinth, your guide makes 
use of his torch ; but as soon as he has conducted you to the 
place where the light of the sun is shining, his torch is use- 
less. If, in embarrassing circumstances, you have to decide 
between difficult duties, your somnambulist may enlighten 
you ; but if you say to him, " Is it permitted me to avoid 



98 OF SOMNAMBULISM, [CHAP. IV. 

paying such a tax V 9 he will merely answer, " Consult the 



laws." 



I know very well that somnambulists have been* and are 
now known to discourse about religion, and even about the 
social organization ; but they do not resemble those of 
whom I have just spoken ; the imagination controlling all 
their other faculties, their manner of utterance, and the ex- 
pression of their features, stamp them as enthusiasts. The 
two states cannot be confounded, if you will but conform to 
the rules I have given. Moreover, these somnambulists 
are evidently influenced by the persons who surround 
them, by the circumstances in which they are placed. 
The errors to which they are subject, the illusions of which 
they are the sport, the extravagances which they utter? 
result from a nefvous excitement which they would never 
have experienced, if the faculties had been naturally de- 
veloped, in silence, solitude, and freedom from external 
influence,* 



* I have said that the somnambulist, when arrived at the highest 
degree of concentration, sometimes imagines himself to be inspired ; 
but he can impart no idea of the beings to whom he thinks he owes 
this inspiration. When a somnambulist has visions, they ought to 
be considered as phantoms, like those which are witnessed in 
dreams. Bodies only have forms. If spirits could communicate 
with us, it would be by exerting an immediate influence upon our 
souls. Socrates, who believed himself inspired by a good genius, 
affirmed that we could no more see it than any thing else which is 
divine. (See Plutarch; the Demon of Socrates, section 35.) He 
said that we could have an internal voice, because thought is man- 
ifested to us only by language. 

In somnambulism, the sensibility which is proper to the organs 
of the internal life is exalted ; from the latent state in which it is, 



CHAP. IV.] AND ITS MANAGEMENT. 99 

Many enlightened men among those who are engaged in 
physiology, and who have some notion of the phenomena of 
magnetism, will not fail to affirm that the state which I 
have described, is only one of the varieties of ordinary 
somnambulism, which differs from others in the concentration 
of mind upon religious ideas, and that this does not prove 
any thing to establish the truth of the opinions held by those 
who enter into that state. I will not discuss this question, 
because it is not the design of this work to inquire into the 
nature of the magnetic phenomena, nor to prove the truth 
of the notions they impart to us. I have merely intended 
to point out how the peculiar state which I have made 
known, ought to be observed when it occurs, and what line 
of conduct ought to be pursued so as not to trouble or 
change its direction. Those who see it as I have, and 
take the proper precautions, will soon decide for themselves 
as to the degree of confidence to be placed in it. I wished 
to teach the mode of avoiding the errors springing from 
ourselves ; but I do not pretend to point out the sure char- 
acteristics of truth. I have told when and how the facts 
might be observed ; but it is for each one to draw from 
these facts, by the use of his own reason, the consequences 

it becomes perceptible ; and these organs are then the instruments 
of our soul, as Doctor Bertrand has very well stated it, in his trea- 
tise on somnambulism. But this new mode of perception may lead 
us into error, as does that which we enjoy in the ordinary state. 
It is then important to distinguish what appertains to the natural 
developement of the intellectual faculties, and the notions furnished 
by the new instruments, from what may be produced by the imagi- 
nation, or by a foreign influence. I have endeavored to impart the 
means to avoid confounding these two classes of phenomena. 

T* 



100 OF SOMNAMBULISM, [CHAP. IV. 

which appear to him the most probable and the best founded. 
I will merely call attention to the fact, that the doctrine 
which somnambulists, in the highest state of concentration and 
abstraction, (isolement,) have laid down, is as far removed 
from mysticism as from materialism, as much opposed to 
intolerance as to incredulity ; that it makes no innovations, 
and merely confirms opinions uttered at all times by some 
of the sages ; that far from proscribing philosophy, it brings 
it into accordance with religion ; finally, that whether it be 
regarded as the product of the imagination, or as inspired 
by the internal sentiment, we are forced to agree that the 
«■£ consequences flowing from it inspire a high idea of the 
dignity of man, favor the happiness of individuals, and tend 
to establish peace and harmony in society. It is pleasant, 
it is delightful,- to have one more reason for expecting 
another life, to believe that Providence watches over us, 
that our afflictions, supported with resignation, will have a 
recompense ; that all men, the children of a common parent, 
ought to be united by the bonds of chanty ; that those who 
have preceded us on earth, hear our wishes, and take an 
interest in us ; and that the good will one day be united in a 
communion of sentiments and enjoyments, where the delights 
of pure affection, and the torch of truth unobscured, will 
crown the desires of our souls, which were created for 
knowledge and love. 

Among the men who are engaged in magnetism, there 
are, unhappily, some materialists. I cannot conceive how 
it is that some of the phenomena of which they have been 
witnesses, such as the power of seeing at a distance, pre- 
vision, the action of the will, the communication of thought 
without the aid of external signs, have not appeared to 



CHAP. IV.] AND ITS MANAGEMENT. 101 

them sufficient proofs of the spirituality of the soul. But, 
finally, their opinion is opposite to mine ; they are sincere, 
because they have no object in sustaining it ; they are bet- 
ter instructed than I am in the physical sciences ; my argu- 
ments cannot change their manner of seeing, and I should 
be very presumptuous, if I flattered myself with the idea 
of overcoming them in the warfare of opposition. Well 
persuaded that they are in error, I ought to wish for new 
phenomena to enlighten their minds. Perhaps if they had 
observed the developement of somnambulism, in all its 
simplicity, if they had exercised no influence over their 
somnambulists, if they had not excited their imagination or 
their vanity in requiring extraordinary things of them, if 
they had left them to the natural order of their ideas, they 
would have obtained results altogether different. I invite 
them to follow the path I have traced out. It is an experi- 
ment worthy of their sagacity, as it is of their courageous 
frankness, to retract their first opinions, if they are ever 
convinced of their having embraced an error. 

In relation to the employment of magnetism, and the 
management of somnambulism, I believe I have given all 
the directions necessary to persons who are not already 
enlightened by experience. It all consists in having but 
a single end in view, that of rendering service, of devoting 
yourself to the patient whose treatment you undertake, to 
make an entire sacrifice of personal considerations, to free 
yourself from all self-interest, from all vanity, from all 
curiosity ; but, I must confess, the requisition is severe. 
He who, by the desire of the family and with the consent 
of the physician, has taken charge of the treatment of a 
dangerous disease, ought to abstain from all other labor 



102 OF SOMNAMBULISM, [CKAP. IV. 

except what the duties of his condition impose, to be indif- 
ferent to the pleasantries of worldly men, to be silent in 
regard to the phenomena he witnesses, to renounce almost 
all diversions, to avoid that which may cause lively emotions, 
to husband his strength habitually, so as to employ it when 
it is required, without the fear of fatigue ; finally, to occupy 
himself continually about the patient who has placed in him 
his confidence, and to consider him as the counterpart of 
himself. 

What shall indemnify him for so much pains, for so 
many sacrifices? The satisfaction of having done good. 
There is nothing beyond such enjoyment. If the services 
you have rendered are soon forgotten, if you are exposed 
to pleasantry, to ridicule, and even to the accusation of 
charlatanry, you will remember that you have God as the 
witness of your actions, and that you are happy enough in 
having Him as the only one who designs to charge Himself 
with your reward. 

After what has been said, it may be seen that the practice 
of magnetism requires the possession of rare qualities, and 
that the love of doing good should be the sole motive for 
engaging in it. It is also evident that great prudence 
should be exercised in the choice of a magnetizer. 



NOTE I. 

I have stated that somnambulists do not every day exhibit 
the same degree of clairvoyance ; but I forgot to mention 
that they sometimes lose it in respect to this or that patient 
with whom they have long been in communication, while at 
the same time they show a great deal of it in relation to 



CHAP. IV.] AKD ITS MANAGEMENT. 103 

others. This anomaly is singular, but I have unfortunately 
seen many instances of it. I will explain. 

In severe chronic diseases, it happens very frequently 
that, at the first consultation, the somnambulist sees in an 
astonishing manner the anterior state, and the actual state 
of the patient. He points out the remedies which first pro- 
duce alleviation, and some days after, such an amelioration 
as to make us consider the cure as certain. Every thing 
he tells is realized, and our confidence appears to be well 
founded. But in the sequel, the condition of the patient 
changes. He grows worse. The somnambulist continues 
to prescribe remedies which do not produce the intended 
effects. He no longer judges by instinct, by intuition. He 
conjectures ; he gropes in the dark ; he seeks to remedy 
the accidents which he had not foreseen, and we find too 
late that we should not have depended upon him blindly. 

It is expedient then to conduct ourselves with the same 
prudence and the same circumspection, during the whole 
continuance of the treatment ; and we ought not to persuade 
ourselves that the somnambulist will commit no mistakes 
in the second or the third month, because he saw well and 
perfectly succeeded during the first days. As soon as the 
somnambulist ceases to announce with exactitude the effects 
of his remedies, and the crises which occur, we ought no 
longer to place dependance on him. It is entirely futile to 
ask the somnambulist for an explanation of what has befallen 
him. The greater part of the time he is not in condition 
to give it; but he ought never to make a mistake in the an- 
nouncement of the effects which will occur. What I have 
now said applies more particularly to somnambulists by pro- 
fession. A somnambulist who is charged with the cure of 



104 OF SOMNAMBULISM, [CHAP. IV. 

one or two patients, with whom be identifies himself, almost 
always preserves his clairvoyance unimpaired ; or if he 
loses it, he perceives the loss, and gives notice of it. 



NOTE II. 

The treatise on somnambulism published by Doctor Ber- 
trand, is the first work, ex-professo, upon the subject, and 
the only one in which it has been examined in its numerous 
relations. In this publication, we recognise a man profoundly 
versed in the study of medicine, physiology, and metaphy- 
sics. The author compares natural somnambulism, to that 
which is exhibited in many diseases, to that which arises 
from the excitement of the imagination, and to that which 
originates in the magnetic treatment ; and he proves that 
they all present analogous phenomena, and are referrible to 
the same cause. He also reduces to the natural order, 
many facts which have been attributed to supernatural 
causes ; and he arrives at this highly important conclusion, 
that if the world had at first known the phenomena of mag- 
netic somnambulism, they would not have attributed to the 
devil, those which the pretended sorcerers exhibited ; to a 
celestial inspiration, those which were witnessed among the 
prophets of Cevennes ; to the influence of deacon Paris, those 
which were witnessed at Saint Medard. But he seems to 
me to make a mistake in what he says upon the action of 
magnetism, and upon the principles of that action. He has 
searched into physiology for the explanation of phenomena 
which depend upon a different law ; he has generalized the 
observations which were proper for his purpose ; and he 
regarded as illusions facts less surprising than the ones he 



CHAP. IV.] AND ITS MANAGEMENT. 105 

has seen, when they did not accord with his theory. If he 
had been a witness of many of the facts which have passed 
under my eyes, if he had examined the evidence in favor of 
mgst of those which have been reported by enlightened men, 
he would not have thrown aside what he calls the pretensions 
of the magnetizers. 

I would not have permitted myself to make critical ob- 
servations upon this work, if I had not judged it sufficiently 
instructive and important to make it a duty to advise the 
reading of it. 

I would also add, that M. Bertrand, though he is not 
endowed with great physical energy, has cured by magnet- 
ism very severe and very inveterate nervous diseases. 
This does not in any degree demonstrate the truth of his 
ingenious theory, but it proves that he possesses many of 
the qualities which constitute a good magnetizer. 



APPENDIX. 



NOTES BY THE TRANSLATOR. 

Note 1. 

The life of the author of this work was translated from 
the elaborate volume of Doctor Foissac, by a lady to whom 
the translator is indebted for other important aid in the 
course of the work. Whoever reads it, will find his confi- 
dence irresistibly drawn towards him, by the evidence of a 
character in which it is delightful to confide. Whatever 
may be our opinion of magnetism, which Deleuze has now 
practised forty-seven years, we cannot refuse to accord to 
him sincerity of mind, and uprightness of intention. His 
various works indicate a careful, scrutinizing spirit, dictated 
by a single-mindedness which rarely leads into mischievous 
error. We trust in him as a guide, because we see his 
caution ; if he does not bring conviction to his theory, he 
drives suspicion from his motive. And he is little to be 
envied, who suffers a vulgar prejudice to influence his 
judgment, when a subject of the first importance, supported 
by the practice and testimony of Deleuze, claims from 
him as a professional man, a serious and careful inves- 
tigation. 

Joseph Philip Francis Deleuze was born at Sisteron, 
Lower Alps, in March, 1753. Desirous of pursuing a 
military career he went to Paris in 1772, intending to study 
mathematics ; but the nominations not having taken place, 
be entered the infantry, with the rank of sub-lieutenant! 
;rhree years after, the corps in which he served being dis- 
banded, he left the service and devoted himself to the study 

A 



2 APPENDIX. 

of the natural sciences. While residing in the country near 
Sisteron, in 1785, he read for the first time an account of 
the cures performed at Buzai^cy, in which he put no confi- 
dence ; indeed, he suspected them to be mere fabrications, 
designed to bring ridicule on the partisans of magnetism. 
But hearing that one of his friends, (M. D. d'Aix,) a man of 
cool reason and enlightened mind, had been to see Mesmer at 
M. Servan's, and on his return to Aix had succeeded in pro- 
ducing somnambulism, he resolved to visit him and ascer- 
tain the truth. 

"I performed the journey on foot," said he, "botanizing 
as I went, and arrived at Aix the second day at noon, hav- 
ing walked since four o'clock in the morning. I immediately 
imparted to my friend the object of my journey, desiring 
him to tell me what he thought of the prodigies I had heard ; 
he smiled, and said coolly, " wait and see for yourself; the 
patient will be here in three hours." 

At the end of that time she arrived, and with her several 
persons who were to form a chain. I joined this chain, and 
in a few minutes saw the patient asleep. I looked with 
astonishment, but falling asleep myself in less than fifteen 
minutes, I ceased to observe. During my sleep I talked 
much, and was so much excited as to trouble the chain. Of 
this I had no recollection when I awoke, and found them all 
laughing around me. The next day, instead of sleeping 
myself, I observed others, and desired my friend to teach 
me the processes. On my return home, I attempted to 
magnetize the sick who were in the neighboring villages. 
I was careful not to excite their imaginations, touching them 
under various pretexts, and trying to convince them of the 
salutary effect of gentle frictions. In this way I obtained 
some very curious and beneficial results, which strengthened 
my own faith. In the autumn, being in. the city, I applied 
to a young physician, a man of much merit, who to the wis- 
dom that sometimes doubts, added the desire to be convinced 
by actual experience. I requested him to obtain for me 
a patient, and if I effected a cure, he might consider this 
conclusive proof; suggesting at the same time that the sub- 
ject should not be considered in a critical state, lest fatal 



APPENDIX. 3 

consequences might follow from my inexperience. He in- 
troduced to me a young woman who had been sick seven 
years, suffering constantly great pain, and being much bloat- 
ed ; having also a local swelling externally, in consequence 
of the great enlargement of the spleen, which she showed 
to us. She was not able to walk or lie down. I succeed- 
ed in removing the obstruction, circulation was restored, the 
swelling gradually disappeared, and she was enabled to at- 
tend to her customary duties. When I touched her, she 
slept, but did not become a somnambulist. Soon after, an 
intimate friend of mine, (Mr. D.,) magnetized a young girl 
of sixteen, who became a somnambulist. She was the 
daughter of very respectable parents. I assisted in the 
treatment of this patient, and I have never known a more 
perfect somnambulist. She dictated remedies for other sick 
persons as well as for herself. She presented most of the 
phenomena observed by M. de Puysegur, M. Tardy, and 
the members of the Society at Strasburg. Among these 
were phenomena I could not have imagined or explained ; 
I can only affirm that I saw them, and after this it is im- 
possible for me to suppose the least illusion, or the possibil- 
ity of deception. " 

From this time M. Deleuze neglected no opportunity to 
multiply and observe facts, relieving and curing a great 
number of persons. Two years after, in 1787, he returned 
to Paris, and pursued with renewed ardor, literature, science, 
philosophy, and particularly botany. In 1798, he was 
chosen assistant naturalist of the Garden of Plants ; and 
when the professors belonging to that establishment united 
in 1802 in publishing the Annals of the Museum of Natural 
History, he was appointed secretary of that association. 

M. Deleuze was first known to the learned world by his 
translation of "Darwin's Loves of the Plants," in 1799; 
"Thomson's Seasons," in 1801-6, at which time he published 
his " Eudoxe, or Conversations on the Study of the Sciences, 
Letters, and Philosophy, 2 vols. 8vo.; Paris, 1801. The 
various knowledge displayed in his writings, the excellence 
of his doctrines, his exquisite judgment, his style, so clear, 
so simple, and at the same time so elegant, place him among 



4 APPENDIX. 

writers of the first rank ; and his book, the best of those 
intended for the instruction of the young, has received from 
the learned, praise the most flattering and honorable. Yet 
notwithstanding his various duties in the Garden of Plants, 
he did not neglect this new order in physiological phenom- 
ena, until now despised by the learned. He did not say, 
like Fontenelle and others, " If [ had my hand full of truth I 
should be careful how I opened it;" but during the furious 
contest occurring between the partisans and the enemies of 
magnetism, he was contented to observe in silence ; and 
waited until the excitement was over, in order to publish 
his " Critical History of Magnetism," the result of twenty- 
nine years of investigation and reflection. This work 
appeared in 1813, forming an era in the annals of science, 
and is now translated into all the principal languages of 
Europe. In this work he took a different course from those 
who had preceded him. I shall not, said he, permit myself 
to form any hypothesis, but shall state what has been 
witnessed by myself and by men worthy of credit. After 
a general sketch of the history of the discovery and the 
obstacles opposed to it, he devotes a very remarkable article 
to the examination of the proofs on which the new doctrine 
is founded. He first lays down principles of indisputable 
correctness, concerning the probability of testimony, and 
applies them with equal logic and sagacity to the examina- 
tion of the proofs of magnetism. He shows that its effects 
have been attested by thousands of witnesses, in whose ranks 
are found physicians, savans, and enlightened men, who 
have not been afraid to brave ridicule in obeying the voice 
of conscience, and fulfilling a duty to humanity ; that those 
who have published their opinions, and by far the larger 
number who make their observations in silence, and content 
themselves with avowing their belief, when questioned on 
the subject, have all either witnessed, or actually produced 
the phenomena of which they speak ; while among the 
adversaries of magnetism, not a man can be found who has 
examined the subject in the only proper way, by experi- 
menting for himself with the most scrupulous attention, and 
in exact accordance with the prescribed directions. 



APPENDIX, 



With the same powerful reasoning, he has treated of the 
means by which magnetism acts, of the methods of producing 
it, of the influence which the faith of the patients and the 
comparative vigor of magnetizers, may have upon the 
efficacy of the treatment. In speaking of the therapeutical 
application of magnetism, he points out the cases in which 
we may hope for success, and shows that, provided the 
proper precautions are taken, its employment can never be 
injurious. In the description of the phenomena of somnam- 
bulism, we see that the author brings them forward with 
reserve, that he endeavors to rob them of their marvellous 
character, and to show that they are not in contradiction to 
the laws of nature.* His explanations of them agree per- 
fectly with the principles of sound physiology. " Let us 
confine ourselves," says he, " to what observation teaches, 
and take -care that we do not go beyond it." No one has 
insisted so much as M. Deleuze on the dangers to which 
magnetism may give rise, and the means of avoiding them. 
His advice acquires the more value that it comes from so 
pure a source, and that never in the midst of the most eager 
discussion, has the most envenomed calumny dared to cast 
a doubt on the veracity of the savant, or the honesty of the 
magnetizer. 

The second volume of the "Critical History" fully justifies 
the title of the work. It is devoted to an analysis and 
examination of the writings which have been published 
concerning magnetism, of which there are nearly three 
hundred. M. Deleuze has fulfilled this difficult task with 
great discernment. His researches show that the adversa- 
ries of magnetism have in vain attempted to shake the 
foundation of the doctrine, and the authenticity of the facts 
on which it rests. " It is to be decided," says he, in con- 
clusion, "that the science of magnetism should be associated 
with the other branches of human knowledge ; that after 
having proved the existence of the agent, we should ascer- 

* An able paper in relation to this subject, appeared in the Boston 
Medical and Surgical Journal of October 25th. It is from the pen 
of Benjamin Haskell, M. D. of South Boston. 

A* 



APPENDIX. 



tain the part it plays in the operations of nature ; and having 
classed its facts according to the degrees of probability, we 
should place them beside the other phenomena of physiology, 
that we may decide whether they depend upon a new prin- 
ciple, or upon a modification ofone already known." 

Among the writings which M. Deleuze has published in 
favor of magnetism, we should particularly notice, first, the 
" Answer to the Author of Superstitions and Impostures of 
Philosophers," M. Ralfe Karts de Lyon, in which, after 
having stated objections which seem renewed from the 
thirteenth century, he examines the causes which opposed 
the re-establishment of religion in France in 1818. " The 
Defence of Magnetism against the attacks made upon it in 
the Dictionary of Medical Science," Paris, 1819. This 
work, chiefly devoted to an examination and criticism of the 
article, " Magnetism," of M. Virey, at the same time answers, 
in the most satisfactory manner, the declamations, sarcasms, 
and even coarse abuse, in which men of merit, blinded by 
rooted prejudices, have allowed themselves towards observ- 
ers who were only actuated by the love of truth, and the de- 
sire of being useful.* 

M. Deleuze proves that these adversaries knew nothing 
about magnetism ; that they father upon its partisans absurd 
opinions ; that they pass by in silence the most convincing 
proofs ; and that, forced at last to admit indisputable phe- 
nomena, they attribute them to a cause incompetent to pro- 



* I ought to justify this assertion, lest I be accused of partiality. 
The following passage will prove, better than 1 can do it myself, 
what were the intentions of the author, and of those persons who 
scattered his works in profusion through all the seminaries. 

"While men affected no longer to believe in the existence of the 
devil, he it was who played the principal part in the lodges of free- 
masons, in the caves of the illuminati, in the theatres of the cities, 
on the stages of the populace, in the saloons of the rich and great, 
and even in the palaces of kings. He was travestied, sometimes as 
the " Wonderful Man," sometimes as a physician, sometimes as a 
"Magnetizer" sometimes as a ventriloquist, sometimes as an artist, 
sometimes as a charlatan, sometimes as Samson, sometimes as a for- 
tune-teller, sometimes as a card-player." — Superstitions of Philoso- 
phers. 



APPENDIX. 



duce them. We should know little of M. Deleuze, did we 
suppose for an instant that he profits by his advantages, and 
hurls back upon his calumniators the ridicule and contempt 
with which they wished to overwhelm him. His volume is 
a model of dignity, reason, and politeness. 

Among the instances of this which I might adduce, there 
is one I cannot pass over in silence, M. Virey says, p. 404 
of his article on Magnetism, " Should Mesmer, or one of his 
most able successors, throw a horse or cow into somnam- 
bulism, then I would recognise the empire of universal mag- 
netism." To this strange demand, M. Deleuze contented 
himself with replying : " Every body knows very well, that 
M. Virey will never be convinced, if he must first witness 
such a phenomenon as this." 

After having addressed the learned world in his " Critical 
History," M. Deleuze wished to draw up a system of rules, 
which should place the subject within the reach of all minds. 
This end he has attained by publishing his " Practical In- 
struction,"* Paris, 1825. Men versed in its phenomena will 
find in this book the results of a consummate experience. 
Those who have as yet seen nothing, and who desire to as- 
sure themselves of the truth of the facts, will draw from 
thence all the knowledge necessary to avoid mistakes, to ob- 
serve with profit, and to give to their practice a salutary 
direction. 

Since that period M. Deleuze has published nothing con- 
cerning magnetism, although he has still in his hands rich 
materials, upon which some physicians who have read them, 
agree in bestowing the highest praise. Such are, an Essay 
on Prevision ; several very curious modes of treatment ; the 



* The " Practical Instruction" concludes with a letter from M. 
Koreff, whose learning and excellent sense are known to all his as. 
sociates. M. Deleuze having invited him to make such additions to 
his work as he should deem useful, M. Koreff contented himself with 
a brief statement of the results of his observations, pointing out the 
difficulties he had met with in his practice ; but the importance of 
the facts, the soundness of the principles, the depth and usefulness 
of his views, prove it to be a production that cannot be too often 
consulted. 



8 APPENDIX, 

remainder of the articles on Van Helmont ; and several dis- 
sertations on the most important questions of magnetism. 

Upon the death of M. Toscan, in 1828, he was appointed 
librarian of the Museum of Natural History. He is a 
member of the Philomathic Society, as well as of several 
learned bodies, both in France and in foreign countries, and 
for fifteen years has drawn up the annual reports of the 
Philanthropic Society, of which he is secretary. Such is 
the ascendance which the wisdom and private virtues of M. 
Deleuze acquire over all who know him, that in the discus- 
sions of the Royal Academy of Medicine, his name has 
never been pronounced without being accompanied with the 
most honorable epithets ; the commission have always cited 
him as authority. His rare qualities, his pleasing and in- 
structive conversation, have gained him many friends among 
the most celebrated of the learned, Levaillant, Duperron, 
Cuvier, de Humboldt, etc., and in the unanimous opinion of 
his contemporaries, he divides with M. le Marquis de Puy- 
segur, the honor of having defended and propagated one of 
the most beautiful discoveries of modem times. 



Note 2. 

Some additional particulars may be gathered from a 
letter, an extract from which is inserted below. It is from 
the gentleman who was the first that lectured on the subject 
of animal magnetism in New-England, and who has pub- 
lished a translation of the celebrated Report of the Royal 
Society of Medicine ; in relation to which it may be said, 
that he who has not read it, has yet to take the most judi- 
cious step towards an acquaintance with the subject. This 
letter is dated 

Nantucket, Aug. 22, 1837. 

Mon cher monsieur — Je suis charme que vous ayez 
enterpris la traduction de Deleuze ; mais qu'il est celui de 
ses ouvrages que vous traduisez ? est ce son Histoire Cri- 
tique, ou l'lnstruction Pratique ? Je crois que ce dernier est 



APPENDIX. 9 

le plus utile a faire passer en Anglais, dans l'etat actuel de 
la science en ce pays-ci. * * * 

Je suis fache de ne pas pouvoir vous donner les details 
que vous me demandez sur M. Deleuze. Je ne Je connais 
pas personellement. Ce que je sais sur son compte, je le 
tlens de l'ouvrage de Foissac, et de ce qu'il raconte de lui- 
meme dans son second chapitre sur le somnambulisme, au 
premier volume de l'Histoire Critique. 

Deleuze est bien vieux, et ne doit pas etre loin de la 
tombe : peut-etre meme y est-il renferme ! Je crains en 
verite que le coup fatal ne lui ait ete porte ; car, Panne 
passee, il etait deja si affaibli par les infirmities de la vieil- 
lesse, qu'il n'a pas pu faire imprimer lui-meme son dernier 
et admirable memoire sur la Faculte de Prevision. Voici 
comment, son estimable ami, M. Mialle, s'exprime a ce 
sujet, dans une note inseree par lui dans la brochure dont 
je viens de parler. 

"M. Deleuze se proposait depuis 1820 de faire imprimer 
un recueil de dissertations, de traitements, d'extraits de cor- 
respondance, &c; pour servir de suite a THistoire Critique 
du Magnetisme ; le memoire que Ton vient de lire devait en 
faire partie. Ses occupations multipliers, Font empeche 
d'effectuer ce projet, et maintenant, helas ! rarTaiblissemem 
de ses forces lui en ote la possibility. Cependant, ses amis 
appreciant toute Timportance de ce dernier ouvrage, ont 
pense qu'on ne devait pas en differer plus longtemps la 
publication." 

Croyez moi bien sincerement votre tres devoue, 

CHARLES POYEN. 



Note 3.— Page 16. 

A child about nine years of age, attending the school of 
Miss S***, in this city, was, about a month ago, during an 
intermission, found to be asleep in the school-room. One 
of the young scholars came and gave information. Miss 
S*** and others tried to rouse her, but not succeeding, they 



10 APPENDIX. 

became alarmed. A young medical student, a son of Com- 
modore John Orde Creighton, being called in, soon perceived 
that she was in a magnetic sleep. A little girl about ten 
years old, immediately burst into tears. It was evident that 
she had done it ; but she was so much terrified at the result 
of the mischief, that Miss S*** called her into another room, 
soothed her distress, and told her she need not be frightened ; 
she had only to go to Anne, and ask her to wake up. This 
was done. She merely spoke to her, and she came out of 
her magnetic state, with that smile upon her visage which 
is peculiar to those who are gently roused from it. 

The child had been, once before, and only once, put into 
the somnambulic state. It was effected in about five min- 
utes, by a lady who had never before tried her hand at this 
business.* 

I learned these particulars from Mr. Benjamin Cozzens, 
and Mr. Joseph Balch, Jr. 

Dr. ***, of this city, informed me that one of his daugh- 
ters, ten years of age, put her little sister, between two and 
three years of age, into a deep magnetic sleep, so that her 
mother could not rouse her. Some time afterwards she was 
very eager to experience the effect again, and cried because 
she was not permitted to be magnetized. 

An instance occurred of one boy ? s putting another into 
the same state, which was related to me by an eye-witness 
of the fact. It took place in this city. 



* An instance of the power of magnetizing without manipulation, 
and causing sleep at the first trial, is afforded in the case of a wo- 
man, who, being in a nervous state, was put to sleep for the first 
time by her husband, in the course of fifteen minutes, without her 
knowing any thing of his intention ; she sitting at one part of the 
room, and he in another. When she was asleep, he went into an 
adjoining room out of her direct vision, and taking down a book, 
be trail to read it. After being some time in tho magnetic stale, she 
was awakened. She related correctly, what he had done, and evinced 
the usual pro*/* of clairvoyance. The gentleman is a resident of 
this city, a friend of mine, on whose veracity I can depend. 



APPENDIX. 11 



Note 4.— Page 36. 

The power exercised over the imagination of the patient, 
is not the least singular thing connected with the subject. 
The success of all experiments of this kind, depends upon 
the control which the magnetizer has over his own imagina- 
tion, as well as upon the strength which belongs to it. A 
long practice will enable a man to call up a clear concep- 
tion of the article which he wishes to administer ; and he 
will succeed in proportion to the clearness and strength of 
this conception, other things being equal. 

A glass of water being held in your hand, you will cause 
the magnetizer to be called into another room, where a per- 
son whom you select, will whisper to him what you wish to 
have it taste like. The magnetizer returns, fixes his mind 
upon the glass of water, to impart to it the desired quality, 
and requests the somnambulist to take it from your hand and 
drink it. He will then ask him what he is drinking. The 
somnambulist never fails to tell, if it be any thing with which 
he is acquainted. It may be he is but slightly acquainted 
with the liquor whose taste is induced into the glass of wa- 
ter ; in this case is evidently involved another condition' to 
render the trial satisfactory, viz., the patient must know 
the article attempted to be imposed upon him. 

An empty glass does as well as a full one. A peach may 
thus be transformed into an apple ; a pear, an iron ball, &c. 
A handkerchief folded, may be changed into a child, a cat, 
or a dog, and thrown into the lap. In the first case, it will 
he fondled ; in the second, thrown off with violence, or ca- 
ressed, as the feeling or the prejudice may happen to be. 

Nor is it the fact, as some suppose, that the effect is pro- 
duced merely upon the imagination of the patient. Any 
medicine which the magnetizer can form a strong concep- 
tion of, may be administered in this manner, and will be ac- 
companied with all its usual effects, as if it were really 
taken. This is a well known and common fact. 

This brings me to the design of this note, At page 36, 
mention is made of magnetized water. An explanation of 



12 APPENDIX. 

its uses and of the manner of preparing it, will be found in 
the third number of this work. Water is magnetized by 
making a few passes along the vessel containing it, stirring 
it with the thumb, and accompanying the action with a 
steady exercise of the will, as to the effects which it shall 
produce. This experiment differs from the ones described 
above, since they were to influence the taste, merely. In 
the present case, the taste is not altered much, and some- 
times not at all. " It takes," says one author, "about one 
minute to magnetize a glass of water, and two or three 
minutes are required for a pitcher-full. The patient gene- 
rally distinguishes it from other water, by a peculiar sensa- 
tion which it excites in the stomach." Experiments of this 
kind have not yet been made in this country with sufficient 
exactitude to be worthy of statement. 



Note 5.— Page 63. 

Clairvoyance. — This term is used to denote the faculty 
peculiar to somnambulists and epileptic persons, which ena- 
bles them to see things near, and also things distant, without 
appearing to use the eye. It seems to be a more expressive 
word than any in the English language that could be brought 
to convey its meaning, because the idea meant to be con- 
veyed is peculiar ; and we must either limit a familiar word 
to one of its significations, invent a new one, or adopt that 
which is already introduced, and is appropriate in the tech- 
nology of magnetism. Its literal signification is clear-sight- 
edness ; its technological signification, is, clear-sightedness 
in the somnambulic state. 

Somnambulists, when they wish to examine an object at- 
tentively, generally press it lightly against the epigastrium. 
The translator has seen one case where the seat of vision 
was on the back part of the head ; and another, where it 
was on one side of the head, near the organ designated by 
Spurzheim as alimentiveness. The objects examined, such 
as bank bills, and the superscriptions of letters, are always 



APPENDIX. 13 

held with the blank side next to the seat of vision, so as to 
be read from right to left. The translator would not make 
this assertion, were he not sure of being supported in it bv 
hundreds of the most respectable inhabitants of this his na- 
tive citv. 

Mr. , of Troy, in New-York, being desirous of test- 
ing the clairvoyant power of one of our somnambulists, and 
being withal a skeptic, notwithstanding the evidence offered 
by the statements and by the thorough convictions of some 
of his own friends, wrote a sentence upon a piece of paper, 
without the knowledge of any person, enclosed it between 
two thick cards, folded them all up in a deep blue sheet of 
paper to prevent the transmission of light, took the precau- 
tion to seal it with his own seal and a number of wafers, 
and put the whole into a larger sheet, directed to Mr. Isaac 
Thurber. Mr. Thurber presented the letter, sealed as it 
came, to Miss Brackett, while she was in the somnambulic 
state, in the presence of Mr. Henry Hopkins, and a number 
of others, and requested her to read the contents without 
breaking the seals. Miss B. took the letter with her on 
retiring for the night. In the morning she gave the follow- 
ing as the sentence contained therein, which Mr. Hopkins 
wrote down at her dictation. 

No oilier than the eye of omnipotence can read this in this 
envelopement. * * * * * * 1837. 

The letter was then sent back in an envelope, the seals 
not having been broken, with the above sentence written up- 
on the outside of it. There was something where the stars 
are placed which she could not read. 

This number will be published before an answer can be 
received from Troy. In the second number it shall be made 
known, whatever may be its purport. The following letter 
may serve to show on what basis we raise our confidence. 

Sir — Previous to the experiment of Mr. , of Troy, I 

had done this thing to try the clairvoyant power of Miss B. 
I wrote this sentence on a sheet of paper, Animal magnetism 

B 



16 APPENDIX. 

say that you seethe internal organization ?" " Yes." " Is the 
liver, heart, &c. well ?" " Yes ; it looks just the same as 
yours, or anybody's else." " Well, do you see anything 
wrong ?" ci Yes, there is an enlargement of the spleen." 
Several questions were then put to confuse her, and also to 
ascertain if she knew what the spleen was, and where situ- 
ated ; to all which she gave satisfactory replies. Still the 
doctor was incredulous. But now comes the proof. In four 
days the man died, and Dr. B. having obtained permission 
to institute a post mortem examination, called on every phy- 
sician in the city, and narrated the story of the girl. In 
presence of several of them the body was subsequently 
opened, when to their surprise, the girl was right — all that 
ailed the man was an enlargement of the spleen. 

What shall we say to this fact ? It is substantiated be- 
yond the possibility of a doubt, as may be learned by any 
one passing through Providence. Shall we set it down 
among the list of curious coincidences, or admit that the girl 
actually possessed a supernatural sense of vision, and that 
for the time being, her immortal spirit, released from the 
body, roved freely and at the will of the operator? 

As in the state of vision, the fact is no more strange, than 
in the well-attested case of the famed Springfield somnambu- 
list. Now if we admit that the soul in this case saw without 
the aid of the eyes, why not admit that, in certain states of 
the nervous system, other senses or faculties of the mind may 
also act independently of their material organs? We know 
the soul thus exists after death, and why not in the state of 
temporary death caused by animal magnetism ? What know 
we of the nature of that deathless spark within us? And if 
we allow that it may, without the body, enter the next room, 
we cannot deny the possibility that it may in the same 
manner annihilate time and space, and travel hundreds of 
miles as easily and quickly as it can so many feet. 

But some say, we cannot believe that God has given such 
a dangerous power to the human will. It is out of the 
common order of nature ; it is a miracle ; we cannot believe 
it. But who can set bounds to the dominion of the human 
will ? Man — before the steady gaze of whose eye the forest 



APPENDIX, 



17 



king trembles and flees ; whose power extends to the huge 
dwellers in ocean's unfathomed infinite; man — at whose 
nod the giant oak which for centuries has braved heaven's 
thunderbolts, falls prostrate, and rises again in beauty to 
adorn his mansion ; who lays his will upon the everlasting 
rock and it becomes as wax"; whose highway is earth, and 
air, and ocean ; whose servant is the lightning ; whose intel- 
lect spans earth and encircles heaven ; thinking, reasoning, 
godlike man — who can set bounds to the untried power of 
his mysterious will ? Who shall say to it " thus far shalt 
thou come, and no farther ?" 

Now, though in the above-mentioned cases our will ope- 
rates through more tangible means, the facts, were they not 
so common, are as wonderful as the alleged fact that this 
same mighty agent operating through the nervous system, 
produces all the wonders of animal magnetism. If actual 
experiment demonstrates the fact, fools may laugh, but wise 
men believe; and believing, bow down and adore with 
deeper reverence that Great Being from whose almighty 
will these millions of human wills emanated. 

On reading this communication, which nearly accorded 
with what I had heard stated, I conversed with Doctor B., 
who is one of our oldest physicians, and asked him whether 
the statement there made was correct. He replied that it 
was, in substance ; but some of the particulars were imper* 
fectly stated. He gave me the following account. 

The patient lived more than a quarter of a mile from my 
residence. I requested a somnambulist, then at my house, to 
see if she could find such a man, at the same time pointing 
out to her the situation of the house, which was not in sight 
from the room where we continued all the time. She saw 
him. On being asked in what room, she replied, in the 
third room back from the street. She was then requested 
to describe the situation of the furniture in it, in order to 
discover whether she had got into the right place, and 
whether her clairvoyance might be trusted to at that time ; 
she described it very exactly. 

B* 



18 



APPENDIX, 



I then told her my patient had been sick a long time, and 
desired her to examine him and tell what the disease was. 

She said, « He looks so bad, 1 do not like to do it." I 
replied, " Never mind that ; it looks bad to you, because 
you have not been accustomed to looking at the interior of 
a body." 

As 1 supposed him to be affected with a diseased liver, 
and with indigestion arising from a diseased state of the 
stomach, I asked her to look at the stomach to see if that 
was diseased ; she answered, " No." 

" Is the liver diseased ?" " No." 

"Well, examine the whole intestinal canal, and see if 
there is any disease there." 

" I do not see any," said she. 

"Examine the kidneys." « Nothing is the matter with 
them." 

Not knowing what other part to call her attention to, I 
requested her fo look at every part of him. 

After some little time, she says, " His spleen is swelled ; 
it is enlarged." 

"His spleen!" said I; "when we speak of a person 
who is spleeny, we suppose he has an imaginary complaint. 
What do you mean ?" 

Said she, " The part called the spleen, is enlarged." 

"How do you know it is enlarged ?" 

" It is a great deal larger than yours." 

" Do you see mine ?" " Yes." 

" How large is his spleen ?" 

" It is a great deal longer and thicker than your hand." 

I then asked her to put her hand where the spleen is sit- 
uated. She immediately placed her hand over the region 
of the spleen. 

I then asked her what the shape of the stomach was. She 
replied, that it was like a flower in the garden. I was not 
acquainted with that flower, and do not recollect the name 
she gave it. 

I then requested her to recollect all about this, saying I 
wished to talk with her about it when she awoke. 



APPENDIX. 19 

After she came out of the somnambulic state, she was 
asked whether she remembered having examined the sick 
person. She remembered it. 

" What part did you tell me was diseased ?" After a lit- 
tle consideration, she replied, " I believe I told you the spleen 
is enlarged." 

" How came you to call it the spleen ?" 

" I do not know." 

" Did you ever hear any description of the internal or- 
gans, or see any plates of them ?" " No." 

" Should you know the plate representing the stomach, if 
you were to see it V- 

" I think I should, if it looked like it." 

" I will go into the library and bring out some plates, to 
see whether you know the internal organs." 

While I was gone into the library, she said to a lady pre- 
sent, " Every once in a while I saw fluids pass from his 
stomach into his bowels." 

On returning with the volume of plates, in order to ascer- 
tain whether she really distinguished the different organs, I 
showed her a plate somewhat resembling the stomach, and 
asked her if that was what she saw for the stomach. She 
said, " No." Turning to several plates in succession, she 
declared that neither of them resembled the stomach. 

Then turning to the true plate, as if accidentally, while 
throwing open the leaves, intending to pass it by unless she 
noticed it, she immediately cried out, " That 's it ; that 's 
what I saw for the stomach." 

I then conversed with her in relation to the other viscera ; 
and she gave a very correct description of them, as she had 
done in her sleep. I asked her if she had conversed upon 
the subject, or seen any plates of the internal organs. She 
declared she never had. 

Seven days after this, the patient was taken more seri- 
ously ill, and died on Saturday, the third day following. 

On Monday, a post mortem examination took place ; pre- 
vious to which I invited all the physicians whom I could 
find in the city. 



20 APPENDIX. 

Eighteen persons were present, of whom sixteen were phy- 
sicians. 

I then stated all the particulars of the examination by the 
somnambulic patient ; and requested the physicians to ex- 
amine the body to see if they could discover the diseased 
spleen from external examination. They, with one voice, 
declared they could not. 

I then opened the body, and, to the utter astonishment of 
the physicians present, found the spleen so enlarged as to 
weigh fifty -seven ounces. Its usual weight is from four to 
six ounces. 

No other disease was perceptible except a general inflam- 
mation, which, no doubt, came on about three days before 
his death.* 



Note 6.— Page 77. 

Among the somnambulists that I have seen, there has 
been a peculiar delicacy exhibited while in the magnetic 
state. Though the magnetizer undoubtedly possesses the 
power of changing the appearance of things to their percep- 
tion, such as turning an apple into a walnut, and water into 
lemonade; yet he, probably, cannot destroy that native 
sense of propriety which seems to be quickened in the 
somnambulist, 

Foissac says, page 392, that " when M. de Puysegur saw, 
in 1784, the control which he exercised over somnambulists, 

* Mr. Thomas C. Hartshorn, 

Sir — In the account you have given, from conversation with me, 
of the discovery of the diseased spleen, you have stated that all the 
physicians present at the post mortem examination, declared they 
could not discover by external manipulation, any enlargement of 
that organ. Two of those gentlemen have since told me that they, 
individually, did not make such examination ; I therefore beg you 
would make this correction in your second edition. A general in- 
vitation was given to examine the body. If there were any who did 
not do it, it was presumable that they were satisfied with the ex. 
amination of those who took that trouble. B. 



APPENDIX. 21 

he was affrighted at the thought that others might turn 
• 3ide this power from itsholy intention. But all his patients 
declared to him, that they preserved in that state their 
judgment and their reason ; that they perceived very quickly 
the designs of the magnetizer, and that these could readily 
cause them to awake. The authors I have cited in the 
preceding paragraph are of the same opinion. My somnam- 
bulists have told me exactly the same things. If then some 
instances of a contrary nature are thrown out against us, I 
will say that magnetism has been the pretext, and not the 
cause of these disorders ; because it does not take from all 
those who practise it, the vicious propensities of their hearts, 
and all the abuses of which complaint is made, would have 
existed as much without it as with it." • 



Note 7.— Page 85. 

The gentlemen who have practised magnetism in this 
country have arrived to the observation of the same general 
rules which govern the more experienced practitioners of 
Europe. This is the more remarkable, since they have 
been obliged to depend upon the experience which they 
gained from their own practice, through a want of proper 
means of information. This fact about the consequences of 
making short passes before the head, which M. Deleuze 
calls charging it too much, was observed to me by one of 
them who had never read on the subject. 



Note 8.— Page 85. 

It is not to be wondered at, then, if some rough attempts 
made to rouse a somnambulist, by persons who doubted the 
reality of the sleep, have effected the object and thrown a 
temporary suspicion upon magnetism itself, as though it 
professed to do what it could not perform. One instance of 
this kind has often produced strong skepticism in the minds 



22 APPENDIX. 

of many persons; Hence it is proper to know that there is 
always a liability, though a very slender probability, of 
having a patient waked by such means. Unfortunately 
the curious phenomena must be exhibited, before magnetism 
can gain converts to faith in its curative and restorative 
virtues ; and h\v are satisfied with hearing about the power 
possessed by somnambulists, of visiting in spirit the houses 
of their neighbors and friends ; each one claims the privi- 
lege of sending one into his own house and hearing his own 
furniture described. They want the proof of Didymus ; 
and when they have obtained it, they depart in wonder and 
astonishment, like the woman of Samaria from the well of 
Sychar, and relate what they have seen, to excite the won- 
der and astonishment of others. Hence they who merely 
hear of these phenomena, form an estimate of the subject 
not from its re#l utility, but from its curious nature. And 
there is some danger of having its curative and restorative 
powers overlooked in the rage of curiosity. When this 
rage shall have subsided, the magnetizers will have leisure 
to pursue their avocation without interruption. And the 
maxims of the benevolent Deleuze, who forbids such exper- 
iments, will command the respect and the attention which 
they deserve, 



Note 9.— Page 85, 

PARALYSIS. 

The translator has himself witnessed the exertion of this 
paralyzing power, both upon patients who were in the mag- 
netic sleep, and upon others while they were not. He has 
not, however, seen a person paralyze the limbs of another 
who had never been put into the magnetic sleep by him. 
It seems to be a necessary condition that a perfect commu- 
nication shall have been established at some previous time. 
The power which is gained by the practice of magnetism, is 
however so great, that it may be found to be effectual in a 
trial of this kind, without this condition. 



APPENDIX. 23 

When the patient is in the state of magnetic sleep, this 
paralysis of the limbs, of the muscles of the face, of the 
tongue, and of the eyelids, has been produced in the pre- 
sence of many persons, including myself, who tried all 
means to detect imposture or mistake. The magnetizer 
would act by the will merely, upon the' part indicated on a 
slip of paper thrust into his hands, he continuing at the dis- 
tance of eight or ten feet from the person whose limbs were 
to be paralyzed, and not uttering a single audible word. 
Nor was this effect produced by strangers whom we do not 
know. On the contrary, they are our own citizens, in whom 
we have perfect confidence as to their integrity of purpose ; 
and who have never been known to be devoted to tricks of 
legerdemain and diablerie. 

Providence, August 25th, 1837. 
S*« — In the Practical Instruction in Animal Magnetism, 
which I am now publishing in English, the author mentions 
the power that some magnetizers have of paralyzing the 
limbs of a patient in the magnetic state. But the instance 
which you recently related to me is so much more extraor- 
dinary, that I wish to obtain from you in writing, a state- 
ment of the facts in relation to it, with permission to make 
use of it in a note. I shall esteem it a valuable addition to 
the authentic matter to be embraced in the appendix of each 
number of that work. 

Yours, respectfully, 

T. C. HARTSHORN. 
Dr. Thomas H. Webb. 

Providence, Sept. 1, 1837. 

Dear Sir — My time has been so much occupied of late, 
as to have rendered it impossible for me, until the present 
moment, to reply to your note of the 25th ult., and even 
now I am so circumstanced as to be unable to do more than 
write a very brief reply. 

In conversation with Mr. Daniel Greene, of Pawtucket, 
who, as you probably well know, is the most powerful, as 



2i APPENDIX. 

he has been the most extensive magnetizer in this country. 
I inquired if lie were able to magnetize and thereby obtain 
control over a single limb, whilst the rest of the body remained 
in a natural state. He said that he had done it, in the case 
of Miss J., with whom you are acquainted, and would 
attempt it on another patient that we were going to see that 
afternoon, if reminded of it, 

The individual alluded to had never been magnetized but 
three times, and did not present a very striking exemplifi- 
cation of the usual magnetic phenomena. After trying 
various experiments that consumed several hours, we left 
the house, having forgotten the subject matter of my inter- 
rogatory. But upon recollecting it, we returned, and the 
patient reseated herself upon being requested so to do, 
without any reason being given her for making the request. 

Mr. Greene then went through the usual manipulations 
some dozen or "twenty times, confining them to the space 
reaching from the top of the left shoulder, to the extremi- 
ties of the fingers on the same side. He afterwards re- 
quested her to raise the left hand to the head. She said she 
could not. There was evidently a powerful effort made to 
do this, as was shown by the working of the muscles in- 
serted into the upper portion of the shoulder ; but the limb 
remained powerless and motionless, not obeying the dictates 
of the owner's will. She was asked to raise her right arm 
to the head, which was done promptly and with perfect ease 
and freedom. Again she was directed to stretch out the 
left hand, but unavailingly. It was completely paralyzed ; 
devoid of motion and sensation. I gave it a severe pinch, 
nipping with the thumb and finger, as hard as I deemed it 
prudent to, leaving deep impressions with my nails. Upon 
inquiring if it did not hurt her, she, with an incredulous smile, 
observed, that I had not done any thing to her. I then, 
without saying any thing, pinched, in the same manner, 
though less severely, the other hand, when she drew back 
from me with a sudden start, and complained that I hurt her. 
The arm, to one lifting it, was a perfect dead weight. I 
poised it on my fingers, and Mr. G. restored it; and there 



APPENDIX. 25 

was a very marked difference in it and about it, as it passed 
from the magnetic to the natural state. 

To a person not acquainted with the magnetizer, mag. 
netizee, and the gentlemen present,* there will of course ap- 
pear nothing conclusive upon the subject of magnetism, in 
what is here detailed ; but to those of us who had previously 
examined other patients, and satisfied ourselves of the ex- 
istence of a power by means of which, to a certain extent, 
one individual may obtain mental mastery over another, the 
experiment was satisfactory. 

Should a suitable opportunity hereafter present, I may 
furnish you with a statement of some singular cases which 
T have witnessed. In the mean time, I remain, 

Yours, &c. 

THOMAS H. WEBB. 

Mr. Thomas C. Hartshorn. 

Among the persons who have possessed this extraordi- 
nary power, Gassner deserves especial mention. A brief 
notice of him may be found in the volume of Doctor Fois- 
sac, page 446. I will translate a portion of it. 

John Joseph Gassner, born at Braz, in the circle of Sua- 
bia, 1727, having been delivered by exorcism from a long 
continued disease, which had resisted all the resources of 
the medical art, persuaded himself that the greater part of 
human infirmities might be attributed to no other cause than 
demoniacal possession, and that they should be treated with 
exorcism. He began by curing the sick persons of his own 
parish ; but very soon Switzerland, Tyrol, and Suabia, sent 
him theirs, and he cured four or five hundred a year. Af- 
ter having gone over different provinces, he established him. 
self at Ratisbon, under the protection of the lord bishop, 
(prince-eveque). The number of persons resorting to him 
was so considerable, that he often had ten thousand of them 
encamped in the neighborhood of Ratisbon. Gassner re- 



* Mr - Benjamin Hatha way, of Providence, and Mr. Abner Jones, 
of New- York, were present. 



c 



26 APPENDIX, 

garded faith as an essential condition to be cured. It was 
rare to have the patients delivered from their afflictions at 
the first exorcism. He consecrated to them several hours, 
and often many days. When he wished to act upon a pa- 
tient, he made him place himself on his knees before him ; 
he almost always touched the affected part. Sometimes he 
rubbed his hands upon his waist or upon his neck, but it 
was not always the case. 

Gassner had the power, by his will, to make the pulse of 
his patients vary; he made it small, great, strong, feeble, 
slow, quick, irregular, intermittent ; and finally, just as the 
physicians who were present requested of him. He para- 
lyzed the limbs, caused them to weep, to laugh ; and soothed 
or agitated them simply by expressing his order in Latin, 
or rather, mentally. 

He thus operated the most extraordinary cures. They 
found a small number of persons to contradict the facts. 
But, who would have thought it ? the celebrated De Haen,* 
one of the first physicians of his age, not conceiving how 
Gassner had been able to perform such cures, concluded 
that his power was derived from the devil. He, however, 
first argued the question whether they could have been done 
by sympathy, or by magnetism, but he declared he did not 
know any one sufficiently well versed in occult philosophy 
to operate such wonderful things. 

About this time, Mesmer published his first observations. 
On his journey to Munich, being consulted by the elector of 
Bavaria, in relation to the cures of the curate of Ratisbon, 
he recognised in his exorcisms the presence of the virtues 
of animal magnetism, the nature and the properties of which 
it was reserved for him to make known. 

Mesmer, himself, was endowed with the same degree of 
power, which, whether exerted in the form of exorcism or 
of manipulation, would have exhibited effects equally re- 
markable. From the notes reported by Thou ret, in his 
" Recherches et Doutes," I shall translate a few instances. 

* The translator has not been able to find out whether this is the 
same De Haen under whom Mesmer studied. 



APPENDIX. 27 

Mesmer being one day with Messrs. Camp*** and d'E*** 
near the great basin of Meudon, proposed that they should 
pass alternately round to the other side of the basin, while 
he remained in his place. He made them plunge a cane 
into the water, and plunged his own into it. At this dis- 
tance, M. Camp* # * experienced an aftack of the asthma, 
and M. d'E*** a pain in the side, to which he was subject. 
Some persons have been seen who were not able to sustain 
the experiment without fainting. 

One day Mesmer was walking in the woods of the coun- 
try beyond Orleans. Two girls taking advantage of the 
freedom of the country, went ahead of the company to chase 
him. He began to run ; but suddenly turning round, he 
presented his cane towards them, forbidding them to come 
further. Immediately their knees bent under them, and 
they could not advance. 

One evening Mesmer went into the garden of M. le prince 
de Soubise, with six persons. He prepared a tree, and a 
short time after, M'me la M. de** # , and Mesdemoiselles de 
Pr*** and P*** fell senseless. M'me la D*** de T*** held 
on to the tree without power to leave it. M. le C** # de 
Mons # was obliged to sit down on a bank, not being able to 
sustain himself on his limbs. I do not recollect what effect 
M. Ang # * ## , a very strong man, experienced, but it was 
terrible. Mesmer then called his servant to take away the 
bodies ; but, I do not know how it was, although well ac- 
customed to this sort of scene, even he found himself in no 
condition to act. It was necessary to wait a long time for 
each one to come to himself. 



Note 10.— Page 85. 

In the report of the committee appointed by the Royal 
Academy of Medicine, and read to that learned body in 
1831, may be found the following statement. 

" You have all heard of a fact which at the time fixed 
the attention of the Chirurgical Section, and which was 



28 APPENDIX. 

communicated to it at the session of April I6th, 1829, by 
M. Jules Cloquet. The committee thought it their duty to 
embody it in this report, as one of the least equivocal proofs 
of the power of the magnetic sleep. It relates to Madame 
Plantin, aged 64 years, living at 151 Rue Saint-Dennis, who 
consulted M. Cloquet, on the 8th of April, 1829, about an 
ulcerated cancer on her right breast, which she had had 
many years, and which was complicated with a considerable 
enlargement of the axillary ganglions. M. Chapelain, the 
physician of this woman, whom he had magnetized for some 
months, with the intention, as he said, of reducing the en- 
largement of the breast, had been able to obtain no other 
result than a very profound sleep, during which her sensi- 
bility appeared to be annihilated, but the ideas preserved 
all their lucidity. He proposed to M. Cloquet, that he 
should operate upon it, while she was plunged into the 
magnetic sleep,- M. Cloquet, considering the operation to 
be indispensable, consented to do it ; and it was agreed that 
it should take place on the following Sunday, April 12th. 
The two evenings previous, this woman was magnetized 
several times by M. Chapelain, who disposed her, when in 
somnambulism, to support the operation without fear, and 
even led her to speak of it with composure, while as soon 
as she waked, she repelled the idea with horror. 

On the day appointed for the operation, M. Cloquet, on 
his arrival at half past ten o'clock in the morning, found the 
patient dressed, and seated in an arm chair, in the position 
of a person peacefully wrapped in a natural sleep. It was 
nearly an hour since she had returned from mass, which she 
always attended at the same hour. M. Chapelain had put 
her into the magnetic sleep since she came back. The 
patient spoke with great calmness of the operation she was 
about to undergo. Every arrangement having been made 
for the operation, she undressed herself and sat down upon 
a chair. 

M. Chapelain held the right arm, the left arm being 
suffered to hang by her side. M. Pailloux, a student at the 
Saint Louis Hospital, was charged to hand the instruments 
and to make the ligatures. First an incision was made 



APPENDIX. 29 

from the armpit, above the tumor, to the inner side of the 
breast. The second, commencing at the same point, sepa- 
rated the tumor below, and passed round to meet the first. 
M. Cloquet dissected the enlarged ganglions with caution, 
on account of their proximity to the axillary artery, and 
took off the* tumor. The time consumed in the operation 
was ten or twelve minutes. 

During all this time the patient continued to converse 
tranquilly with the operator, and did not exhibit the slightest 
sign of sensibility ; no movement of the limbs or ofihefea. 
tares, no change in the perspiration, nor in the voice, no 
emotion, not even in the pulse, were manifested ; the patient 
did not cease to be in the state of self-forgetfulness, and 
passive insensibility, in which she was several minutes be- 
fore the operation. They were not obliged to hold her, 
they merely suslained her. A ligature was applied to the 
lateral thoracic artery, which was exposed during the ex- 
traction of the ganglions. The wound was closed with 
sticking plaster, and dressed ; the patient was put on the 
bed, still in the state of somnambulism, and left there forty- 
eight hours. An hour after the operation, a slight hemor- 
rhage ensued which did not continue. The first dressing 
was removed on the succeeding Tuesday, April 14th. The 
wound was cleansed and dressed anew ; the patient mani- 
fested no sensibility nor pain. The pulse preserved its 
natural beat. 

After the dressing had been put on, M. Chapelain awoke 
the patient, whose somnambulic sleep had lasted ever since 
one hour before the operation, that is to say, for two days. 
This woman did not appear to have any idea or any im- 
pression of what had passed ; but on learning that she had 
been operated upon, and seeing her children around her, 
she experienced a very lively emotion, which the magnetizer 
put and end to, by putting her asleep immediately. 

The following names were appended to this report. 

Bourdois de la Motte, President; Fouquier, Gueneau de 
Mussy, Guersent, Itard, J. J. Leroux, Marc, Thillaye, 
Husson. 
c* 



30 APPENDIX. 

Note 11. 
Providence, August 31, 1837. 

Sir — In compliance with your request, expressed in a 
note, dated the 24th inst., I herewith furnish you a state- 
ment of the case of somnambulsim which I have under my 
charge, to append as a note to the work you have in pro- 
gress. 

Numerous professional engagements at this time will rea- 
der the statement necessarily very brief and general in its 
character. This brevity, however, is less to be regretted, 
as you are able to obtain statements of many of the partic- 
ulars from a number of respectable gentlemen, who have 
witnessed the case, and who could command more time to 
devote to making particular experiments. 

Miss L. Brackett, the subject of this case, is a respectable 
and intelligent»young lady from Dudley, Mass. Four years 
since, when about sixteen years of age, she had the misfor- 
tune to have an iron weight, weighing two or three pounds, 
fall from a height upon the top of her head. The injury 
which she sustained was so considerable as to deprive her 
of her reason for a number of months, during which time 
she was subject to the most violent spasms, and other serious 
derangements of her nervous system. From the immediate 
effects of this injury she gradually recovered, and at the 
end of the year her general health was partially restored. 
Notwithstanding, however, the improvement in her general 
health, an affection of her eyes which commenced immedi- 
ately after the receiption of the injury, and which threatened 
total blindness, was daily growing worse. The disease 
with which her eyes were affected, is called amaurosis ; 
it is an affection of the optic nerves, often of a paralytic 
character. As is usual in cases of amaurosis, the loss of 
sight was very gradual ; and it was not till the end of two 
and a half years, that it was entirely destroyed. Simulta- 
neously with the loss of sight, she sustained a loss of voice, 
which was so complete, that for fifteen months she was 
unable to utter a single guttural sound, and could only 
whisper in almost inaudible tones. 



APPENDIX. 31 

This was her state in respect .to her eyes and vocal or- 
gans, when I first saw her about the middle of May last ; 
and her general health, though somewhat improved, was 
still far from being good. 

Considering her case as a hopeless one, arrangements 
had been made by her friends to send her to the Asylum 
for the Blind in Boston, in hopes of her being able, after 
finishing her education, to obtain a livelihood as a teacher 
in that or some other similar institution. When on her way 
to Boston, she stopped for the purpose of making a visit of 
a few days, with some friends which she had residing in this 
city. Being in attendance at the time, in the family of one 
of her friends, I was requested to see her and examine her 
case, rather as a matter of curiosity, than from a hope that 
I should be able to prescribe a remedy for her deplorable 
malady. In the course of conversation with her, I found 
that all the usual means in such cases had been persever- 
ingly employed by the most skilful physicians, without 
material benefit. 

There being at this time a considerable excitement upon 
the subject of animal magnetism, and being myself engaged 
in investigating it with a view to its remedial effect, and 
having become fully convinced of its salutary influence up- 
on some diseases, especially those of a paralytic character, 
it occurred to me that it might be beneficially practised in 
this case, upon the supposition that her complaints were 
dependant upon a paralysis of the nerves supplying the af- 
fected organs ; and I accordingly, as a dernier resort, pro- 
posed a trial of it. The following day, having consulted 
her friends and obtained their consent, she desired me to 
make an experiment. The first sitting occupied about forty 
minutes before she was thrown into a profound magnetic 
sleep. On this occasion, she manifested many of the usual 
phenomena of that state. She walked about the house, 
drank her tea, &c. with as much ease and confidence as 
she could have done, had she been in the full possession of 
her sight, and in a waking state. 

From the time of the first experiment to the present date, 
being three and a half months, she has been magnetized 



32 APPENDIX. 

daily, sometimes twice daily, with the exception of thirteen 
days at one time, and three or four at another. The num- 
ber of times she has been magnetized, therefore, considera- 
bly exceeds one hundred. 

The magnetic phenomena, though very astonishing at 
first, became more and more so from day to day. Wheth- 
er it were in consequence of the magnetic state becoming 
more and more perfect the more she was magnetized, or 
whether by becoming better acquainted with the subject, 
we learn to elicit those phenomena with the better success, 
it is difficult to determine ; but it is probable that it is ow- 
ing to a combination of both these causes. 

The somnambulic, or perhaps more properly the mag- 
netic phenomena, have been of several different kinds, and 
each kind manifested in several different ways. The first 
and most obvious of these phenomena, is what the French 
term clairvoyance ; clear-sightedness, mental vision, or vis- 
ion without the use of. the visual organs. This wonderful 
power is manifested, first, in her being able to see any ob- 
ject that is presented to her, when in the magnetic sleep, 
though totally blind when awake. Experiments have been 
varied and multiplied almost indefinitely, to prove the ex- 
istence of this power, and with entire success, as you have 
had frequent opportunities to witness. Objects when ex- 
amined by her are never held in a direction to be seen with 
the eyes, but are laid down upon the top of the back part 
of the head, from which points she has generally seen, 
though the seat of vision has varied at different times. She 
has been able, though with more exertion, to see objects 
that were enclosed in boxes, trunks, and watch cases ; to 
read letters that were folded, &c. 

Secondly, this power is manifested in the ability to see 
objects not present — in a distant city, for instance. In the 
exercise of this power, another seems to be necessary ; that 
of locomotion, as it has been called, or of transporting her- 
self from one place to another. This she says she does 
through the air. 

Another description of phenomena, which may be called 
those of intelligence, is manifested in the somnambulist's 



APPENDIX. 33 

understanding the will of the magnetizer, or of the person 
with whom she may be in communication. To test this 
power, I have made a great number of experiments which 
have been almost uniformly successful. She can, for in- 
stance, be willed to have in her hand various kinds of fruits, 
cakes, wines, animals, birds, &c. ; or any other things may 
be changed from one to another at the will of the magnet- 
izer. 

There is a class of phenomena which seem to partake 
more of a physical character than those above mentioned ; 
as witnessed in the attraction which takes place between 
the hand of the magnetizer and the magnetized, and also 
as witnessed in the attraction and repulsion in the applica- 
tion of the artificial magnet. I do not wish to be under- 
stood to mean that this phenomenon certainly partakes of 
a physical character, though the sudden, powerful, and ap- 
parently involuntary action of the muscles seems to favor 
this opinion. On the contrary, it must be admitted that 
the patient in this case not only understands the will of the 
magnetizer, but observes all his actions, and therefore these 
motions may be voluntary and in obedience to his will. 
Or in using the magnet, a powerful influence may be pro- 
duced upon the imagination, and those effects may be oc- 
casioned by the imagination acting upon an excitable nerv- 
ous system. 

The want of time and opportunity on my own part, and 
the desire to have as many distinguished and scientific 
persons see and investigate this case in their own way, as 
has been consistent with her convenience, have prevented 
my making experiments calculated to establish this point 
conclusively ; neither have I, for the same reasons, been 
able to determine, satisfactorily, whether all the senses can 
be used in reference to things not present, as is the case 
with vision, though from some recent observations, I have 
myself no doubt of the fact. 

In speaking of the magnetic phenomena, I mean only to 
refer to those which have been manifested in this particular 
case. Many others, differing materially from these, have 
been observed in other cases, of which it is neither neces- 



34 APPENDIX. 

sary nor proper that I should speak at this time. Should 
I, however, ever find it convenient to communicate to the 
public a more detailed and better digested history of this 
case, which is my present intention, I shall attempt, after 
giving the result* of my investigations, to follow out the 
classification of the phenomena which I have here merely 
glanced at. By pursuing this mode, perhaps we may arrive 
at some rational theory. At present, however, until a 
greater number of facts have been established, and more 
clearly arranged, to attempt to theorize appears to me to 
be entirely futile. 

In conclusion, it gives me great pleasure to be enabled 
to say from my own observations, that however interesting 
animal magnetism may be when considered in relation to 
science, however interesting as matter of curiosity and won- 
der, or howeyer interesting it may be as a means of discov- 
ering the condition of our absent friends, or the machina- 
tions of our enemies, it is still, mo-e interesting as the means 
of mitigating the suffering incident to human nature. It 
will be recollected I have stated, that when Miss Brackett 
came to this city about the middle of May last, her gene- 
ral health was far from being good ; she was totally blind, 
and unable to speak excepting'in the lowest whisper. Her 
condition is materially different at this time. Her health is 
good ; her vision is partially restored ; and she speaks m 
her natural tone of voice. 

With much respect, 

Yours, &c. 

G. CAPRON. 

Mr. Thomas C. Hartshorn. 

Providence, August 30th, 1837. 
Mr. Henry Hopkins states that Miss Lurena Brackett 
has lived in his family as an invited guest four or five weeks 
at different times. He is satisfied that she was totally blind 
when she first came to live with him. Her voice, when 
he first became acquainted with her, was so low and weak 
that it was difficult to hear her speak. 



APPENDIX. 35 

Her eyes were very much inflamed and painful ; the lids 
were scarcely open ; they were easily affected by the light 
so as to be painful. 

She has since improved very much in her eyesight. 
Her eyes have assumed a healthy appearance ; they are 
not troublesome. She can even lay aside the green shades, 
which she used to wear, without experiencing inconven- 
ience, except in a very bright light. She w now able, in 
the natural state, to discern the outlines of objects, such as a 
book, or a fan, for instance. 

There is also a very great improvement in her appetite, 
appearance, and general health. She has been magnetized 
almost daily by Doctor Capron ; and it is to this that this 
improvement is to be attributed. Her natural cheerfulness 
and elasticity of spirits have improved with her health. In 
the magnetized state she enjoys a walk as much as any one, 
and often walks in the garden among the flowers. If she 
wishes to examine any flower very closely, she holds it just 
behind her head, near the top, without taking off her bonnet ; 
in this manner she holds whatever things she examines. 
To look at any picture hanging up in a room, in a house 
where she has not been before, she steps into a chair and 
brings the top of her head towards it. 

Mr. Hopkins permits me to publish this. 

Mr. Jesse Metcalf says he has known Miss B. about two 
months. She has resided in his family at different times 
about four weeks. Was not acquainted with her when she 
first came to Providence. Could not understand her very 
well at first, because her voice was very feeble ; she did 
not speak except in low whispers. Health quite delicate. 
Appetite poor. Her eyes appeared to be quite inflamed ; 
it was necessary to keep the blinds of the room almost al- 
ways closed ; and the lamp where it could not shine so as 
to pain her eyes. While at his house, she has generally 
been magnetized every day. She would sometimes remain 
in the magnetized state ten or twelve hours, during which 
she would walk about the house as well as any other per- 
son ; but when she was awake, she would have to grope 



36 APPENDIX. 

about, and feel her way. In the magnetized state, she en- 
joys vision, looking at objects with great pleasure, especially 
pictures, portraits, &c. This makes her delight in being 
in that state. She describes such things very accurately. 

Mr. Metcalf says that her general health and her appe- 
tite are very much improved. When in the somnambulic 
state, she walks along the streets with perfect ease, and 
hears any person she is directed to, very well. She has 
been to meeting three times with his family in that state, 
and could remember some parts of the discourses, having 
heard them very well. 

When Doctor Capron leaves her in the magnetic state, 
he first tells her to answer and converse with all his family, 
or with some member of it. She cannot then talk with any 
but these persons ; nor can she hear any thing addressed 
to her by any one else. She cannot, when in that state, 
hear the conversation between any two individuals. 

She can only see their lips move, and wonders they do not 
talk. She cannot even hear the person with whom she con- 
verses, when he talks with any body else. She hears him 
only when he addresses her. Miss B. is intelligent, has re- 
ceived a good education, and is cheerful and pleasant. When 
in the magnetized state, she can tell immediately in what 
part of the house every member of the family is, without 
moving or turning from her seat. Mr. M. has eleven in the 
family, including Miss B., who is now staying with him. 

Miss B. says the walls of the house, as do all other walls, 
appear to be transparent. She can see through them, and 
yet she can see them, and describe what kind of paper, or 
paint, is on them. Miss B. is of pleasing manners, and is 
an invited guest in his house, where she has interested all 
the family. 

Mr. Metcalf permits me to publish this statement, which 
he made at my request. 



CHAPTER V. 

OF PRECAUTION IN THE CHOICE OF A 
MAGNETIZER. 

Of the precautions to be taken by patients who wish to be mag- 
netized, in regard to the choice of a magnetizer, and the success 
of the treatment. 

After having pointed out to those who wish to practise 
magnetism, the principles which ought to direct them, the 
processes they ought at first to employ, and the conduct 
to be pursued in case somnambulism occurs, I think it also 
my duty to give advice to persons who, being ill, wish to 
try magnetism for the recovery of their health, and who do 
not know in their own society any person in whom they 
have an entire confidence. 

It is unnecessary for me to observe that in slight and re- 
cent injuries, such as a bruise, exposure to the air, a head- 
ache, pains in the stomach, and, briefly, all those which do 
not require a treatment prolonged for many days, you may 
dispense with the precautions I am about to indicate. 

Look out, in your own family or among your friends, for 
some one who, if he is not convinced of the reality of mag- 
netism, may be at least disposed to believe in it, from the 
testimony of those who have seen its effects, and from the 
desire of having in himself the means of soothing the dis- 
tresses of his fellow-men, and who joins to this disposition 
of mind, physical and moral qualities essential for magnet- 
izers, that is to say, good health, discretion, the love of good, 



108 OF PRECAUTION IN THE CHOICE [CHAP. V. 

a character tranquil and firm, and having leisure to give 
you the attendance requisite for your restoration. 

It is always of great advantage to have a magnetizer in 
your own family ; the ties of blood contribute, by a physi- 
cal sympathy, to establish a communication. The confi- 
dence and friendship which exist between a husband and his 
wife, between a mother and her daughter, and between near 
relations, have already produced that affection and that de- 
votedness which ought to unite the magnetizer to the som- 
nambulist, and which authorize the continuance of these sen- 
timents when the treatment has ceased. 

I have said that women ought to be preferred to magne- 
tize women : I say more ; it is that (leaving out the case 
where plain good sense declares it a matter of indifference) 
they alone ought to be charged with it. The reasons are 
these. 

1st. It is clear that the magnetic processes never pre- 
sent the least embarrassment to persons of the same sex, 
and when a man magnetizes a woman, he is obliged to be 
attentive lest any of the processes wound decency, or the 
common usages of life. A man, for example, cannot place 
himself opposite to a woman and fix his eyes upon her ; if 
any crisis occurs, he is obliged to call on a woman for the 
purpose of administering to her wants. 

2d. When magnetism is accompanied with somnambu- 
lism, it generally imparts to the somnambulist a very lively 
affection for her magnetizer ; and this affection continues in 
the wakeful state, even after the treatment is at an end. 
I know very well that this attachment is of the same kind 
as that which we feel for near relations, and implies no idea 
injurious to the best sentiments. But it is contrary to all 
propriety, that a young woman should have a very lively 



CHAP. V.] OF A MAGNETIZER. 109 

friendship for any other than her father, her uncles, or her 
brothers. If she has this sentiment, she is obliged to mode- 
rate it, and especially not to express it, if she regards pro- 
priety. 

3d. Chronic diseases are sometimes attended with symp- 
toms, in regard to which modesty compels silence, and about 
which, even a physician is obliged to conjecture for the want 
of being informed. They often spring from secret chagrin, 
pangs of conscience, constrained feelings, &c. The som- 
nambulist has, and ought to have an entire confidence in her 
magnetizer ; but as she does not lose the sense of propriety, 
there are many things about which a woman in that state 
will not dare to speak to a man. There are also many 
questions which a man cannot ask of a woman, much advice 
that he cannot give her, many particulars of which he can- 
not discourse. 

i . Finally, magnetism sometimes produces, in nervous 
diseases, spasmodic movements, and other crises, of which 
it is not proper for a man to be a witness, and in which he 
cannot employ the processes best calculated to soothe them. 

Thus they who have said that to avoid all the inconven- 
iences of magnetism between persons of different sexes, it 
suffices that both the magnetizer and the magnetized pos- 
sess an honesty and delicacy above all suspicion, have not 
considered the thing in its true point of view. All I have 
now said is without allusion to the fear that magnetism will 
create sentiments or attachments which morality forbids.* 



* I owe several of these reflections to Madame Chambon de Mon- 
taux, who, by practising magnetism after the instructions that I 
have given her, has obtained such success as her ardent charity 
merited. M. Chambon de Montaux was, in 1784, one of the doc- 



110 OF PRECAUTION IN THE CHOICE [CHAP. V. 

All other things being equal, the best magnetizer for a 
woman, is her husband ; for a husband, his wife ; for a 
young lady, her sister or her mother. 

One other consideration makes it desirable that a woman 
should find a magnetizer in her own family, or among the 
friends she most frequently sees, and with whom she is most 
intimately connected. The motives I am going to mention, 
will no longer exist when the practice shall be generally 

tors of the faculty, who pronounced against magnetism. He had 
then seen nothing. I showed him some facts, and his old prejudices 
did not prevent him from yielding to the evidence. His wife has 
many times aided him in saving patients for whom the resources of 
his art appeared to him insufficient. 

Unhappily Madame de Montaux is of delicate health, her phy- 
sical powers do not correspond with her moral energy, and the prac- 
tice of magnetism causes a fatigue which she is always too late in 
perceiving. After a treatment of a malignant fever which she had 
cured, by joining, at the request of her husband, magnetism to me- 
dicinal remedies, I have seen her so ill that she could hardly have 
been restored without being herself magnetized. One very extraor- 
dinary thing, which I cannot account for, is, that she commonly 
takes the disease of the person she magnetizes ; not that the cause 
of the disease passes to her, but that she has for several days the 
sensation and symptoms of it. I have seen an instance of it in an 
attack of the gout, and in an opthalmia, which are not contagious 
diseases. 

By reflecting upon the effects she has produced, and on those she 
has experienced, Madame de Montaux has discovered of herself the 
principles of magnetism; and she has drawn from them the most 
useful results. She has written down her observations, and shown 
me her manuscript, by which I have profited. I have there found 
very just remarks, singleness of purpose, and above all, the love of 
order, and a zeal for good. It is the same character which has been 
observed in the work she published under the title of " Moral and 
Political Reflections upon the Advantages of Monarchy." 



CHAP. V.] OF A MAGNETIZER. Ill 

spread, and when physicians shall advise the use of it ; but 
in the actual state of things, they are important.* 

It is almost impossible, especially in a small town, for a 
man to come each day and pass an hour with a woman, 
without people's perceiving it, and discovering the reason. 
Then inquisitive persons ask the magnetizer many ques- 
tions which embarrass him ; and if the disease be not a 
very severe one, the incredulous will indulge in ill-placed 
pleasantries. Indiscreet persons will talk to the patient 
about the method she has chosen to pursue, and give her in- 
quietude. A woman does not like to draw observation. 
Those who surround her, and who approve the use of mag- 
netism, have much trouble in preventing her from experi- 
encing some inconveniences. Doubtless there ought to be 
no mystery in the practice of magnetism, but it is useless to 
speak of it to those who do not believe in its reality. 

As soon as you have chosen a person in whom you are 
willing to place confidence, and he has consented to bestow 
care upon you, you will entreat him to read this little work 
attentively. If, after having read it, he adopts its princi- 
ples, and continues willing to render you the service you re- 
quire, you will entreat him to speak of it to no one except 
to those of your friends to whom you can impart a secret, 
in order to avoid the talk of the incredulous, and especially 
the solicitations of the curious, who may desire to assist at 
the sittings. You will arrange things so as to fix upon an 
hour convenient for him and for you ; because a treatment 
once commenced, should never be interrupted. 

* The reader should bear in mind that these observations were 
written twelve years ago. A great change has since taken place in 
the opinions of men of science in regard to this subject. — Trans. 



112 OF PRECAUTION IN THE CHOICE fcHAP. V, 

When you have made an agreement with him, and he 
has given you his word not to try any experiments of curi- 
osity, but to act solely for your restoration, you will aban- 
don yourself to him with entire confidence, and, as you are 
sure of his discretion, you will conceal from him nothing 
which relates to the cause of your disease. 

If you have already taken remedies, and have a physic- 
ian, you will impart to him your determination, requesting 
him to keep it a secret. Entreat him to consent to your 
employing magnetism as auxiliary to medicine. I do not 
doubt, that even when the physician looks upon magnetism 
as a chimera, and attributes all its effects to the imagination, 
he will consent to observe from time to time the changes 
which this new agent works in you ; to combine and modify 
consequently the remedies he prescribes, and even to sus- 
pend the use of those which do not appear to him absolutely 
necessary, in order to judge better of the influence of the 
new means you wish to try. 

It i* essential to inform your physician of the intention 
you have formed ; because he may attribute the crisis which 
magnetism may produce, to the medicines he has himself ad- 
ministered. 

In severe maladies, the action of magnetism is often in- 
sufficient ; it must be aided by medicine, which the physi- 
cian alone can prescribe. Magnetism sometimes produces 
an effect similar to what we desire of a medicament, which 
then becomes useless. For instance, you wish to adminis- 
ter an emetic at six o'clock in the morning ; you will mag- 
netize at five o'clock ; the effect takes place without giving 
medicine. Some have prescribed opium at night, to lessen 
sharp pains and restore sleep ; after the magnetic sitting, 
the pains have ceased, the patient sleeps peaceably, and you 



CHAP. V.] OF A MAGNETIZER. 113 

do not give him the opium prescribed. You do right ; but 
would not the physician have cause to be injured in his feel- 
ings, if you did not let him know that you did not obey his 
orders, and if you make a mystery of the motives which 
have influenced you ? 

In case of lucid somnambulism, the advice of the physi- 
cian is no longer necessary ; but it is no more than right to 
inform him of the phenomena you have obtained ; and it is 
even your duty to give him an opportunity to be enlightened 
upon the effects of magnetism, so that he may, as occasion 
requires, connect with it the resources which study and ex- 
perience have rendered familiar to him. 

I have now pointed out the resolutions and the measures 
that ought to be taken before commencing a treatment ; we 
will now see how we ought to conduct ourselves when the 
treatment is commenced. 

If you are put asleep, and your magnetizer prescribes re- 
medies for you, you will follow them with entire security, 
observing his directions exactly, without asking the reason. 
He will not prescribe remedies, until he has made you be- 
come a somnambulist, and satisfied himself that your som- 
nambulism is accompanied with clairvoyance. This is a 
subject on which you ought not by any means to concern 
yourself until after your restoration. You will not be in the 
least alarmed at any crisis or transient indisposition, and 
you will mention them unreservedly to your magnetizer. 

If you do not sleep, one of these three things will occur ; 
you will feel no effects, you will experience either relief or 
some one of the encouraging effects I have described, or you 
will grow worse. 

In the first case, you will try nearly a month ; in the 
second case, you will continue with patience so long as your 



114 OF PRECAUTION IN THE CHOICE [CHAP. V. 

magnetizer is not wearied ; in the third case, which is very 
rare, you will renounce magnetism after some days, to make 
use of ordinary medicine. 

But it requires careful attention before you can say, with 
certainty, that the disease is rendered worse. A person 
might be deceived by appearances, and renounce magnet- 
ism at the moment when it is on the point of doing the most 
good. A physician, who has studied and practised magnet* 
ism, would assuredly not err in regard to the nature and the 
consequences of the effects it produces ; but such a physician 
is not readily found. I am going to make some observa- 
tions, from which a person might form a judgment accord- 
ing to circumstances^ and conduct himself with all possible 
prudence, without being disturbed by ill-founded fears. 

In describing the effects by which magnetism manifests 
its action, I haye said that it frequently brings on very sharp 
pains. These pains prove that it acts powerfully ; they are 
necessary to subdue the disease. If then you experience 
sufferings, you will have the fortitude to bear them, without 
speaking cf them to any one. You will regard them as the 
proof of a salutary action ; you will not even ask your mag- 
netizer to calm them. If you have not beforehand taken 
the firm resolution of resisting the first pains that it causes 
you to feel, if your magnetizer has not confidence and force 
of character enough not to be alarmed about them, it would 
be better for you not to commence. The impression first 
made, being no longer sustained and regulated, becomes in- 
jurious. 

I acknowledge that magnetism has been known to excite 
a nervous irritation and an uneasiness, which continue after 
the sittings, without being followed by any crisis ; and there 
is caus ; to suppose the fluid of the magnetizer unsuitable. 



CHAP. V.] OF A MAGNETIZER. 115 

But this irritation and this uneasiness do not resemble the 
pains of which I speak, nor the convulsions which occur in 
nervous diseases, and which the magnetizer can always quiet. 

In the succeeding chapter, when I shall treat of the appli- 
cation of magnetism to various complaints, I shall enter into 
a more particular examination of the circumstances in which 
it is proper to suspend the use of it. 

During the continuance of the magnetic treatment, you 
should be careful to follow a mild regimen, to avoid excesses 
of all kinds, watchings, fatigue of body and of mind ; and 
all that can excite lively emotions and trouble the tranquil- 
lity of the spirit. You should make use of magnetized wa- 
ter, so long as you can without exciting the attention of 
others* 

If you experience a considerable amelioration in your 
health, and people of your acquaintance take notice of it, do 
not on that account tell them the means you are employ- 
ing ; wait until your restoration is sufficiently advanced, so 
that no doubt may exist in relation to the efficaciousness of 
magnetism. 

It is as useful as it is consoling to flatter ourselves that 
we shall obtain a complete cure ; but we are far from al. 
ways arriving at this result. In iong-seated maladies, it 
frequently happens that a person, at first, is conscious of an 
improvement of health, which continues, but does not in- 
crease ; then, after several months of treatment, he may 
cease being magnetized every day, withdraw himself gradu- 
ally from the sittings, and finish by having recourse to mag- 
netism only when he feels a renewal of the pain, which may 
be easily dissipated. 

Avoid being magnetized when it is no longer necessary. 
If you continue after being cured, or even after having ob- 



116 OF PRECAUTION IN THE CHOICE [CHAP. V. 

tained from magnetism all the good it can effect, you will 
become habituated to it ; and this is a great inconvenience 
to persons sensible to its action, and especially to those who 
are susceptible of somnambulism. 

Although magnetism consists in the influence exercised 
by one individual over another, many magnetizers think that 
one can magnetize himself; it is true — but only in regard 
to certain persons and to certain cases. 

When a man, in the habit of being magnetized, has a 
local pain, for example, in the arm, the leg, or the stomach, 
he can dissipate or relieve it, by attentively employing upon 
himself the magnetic processes. But to do this, he must be 
in good health. When a person has a general disease, a 
fever, or an organic affection, it is plain that he cannot draw 
the remedy from himself, since the fluid of which he makes 
use has no longer the necessary qualities. 

Among the persons who have been magnetized many 
times, there are some, who can, of their own accord, throw 
themselves into the magnetic state. I think it a faculty they 
ought never to employ ; because by exercising it, they ac- 
quire the habit of concentration, which may fatigue the ner- 
vous system and become very injurious, as we shall say, 
when we come to speak of the dangers of magnetism. 

I think I ought not to finish this chapter without answer- 
ing a question often addressed to me. 

In the present state of things, say some persons, magnet- 
ism is so little known, that many patients cannot find either 
in their family, or among their friends, any one who can or 
who is willing to magnetize them. Among those to whom 
one would voluntarily make application, some are incredu- 
lous ; others believe in the reality of the agent, but not in 
their own power ; others lack leisure ; others have not the 



CHAP. V.] OF A MAGNETIZER. 117 

physical condition and the health necessary to follow up a 
treatment. Many physicians have confidence in magnet- 
ism, but the occupations of very few permit them to prac- 
tise it. Can we not obtain a magnetizer for whose cares 
we could be grateful, and whom we could recompense for 
the sacrifice of time. 

To this I answer, there are at Paris many persons entirely 
devoted to the practice of magnetism, and who, when they 
are not already charged with the cure of many patients, are 
ready to visit those who give them a call. Among these, 
there are some who have much experience, who are en- 
dowed with the most happy faculties, and who form a lively 
attachment for the persons of whom they undertake the 
charge. I know some of them, who perceive the seat of the 
disease, and modify their action accordingly. I know some 
of them, who enter in a sort of demi-somnambulism, during 
which they magnetize with much discernment and effica- 
ciousness. The persons of whom I speak, have not chosen 
the exercise of magnetism as a lucrative profession. After 
they themselves have been cured by it, they have endeav- 
ored to render service to their friends ; and they who have 
witnessed their success, have engaged them to continue it. 
Thus obliged to renounce every other means of subsistence, 
it is very necessary for them to find a livelihood in their 
new occupation. 

But it is not enough that any one is known to practise 
magnetism, to induce us to make application to him. It is 
proper, in the first place, to find out whether he really has, 
independently of all interested motives, a decided inclination 
for the practice ; whether he has any instinctive faculties ; 
whether he possesses the moral qualities desirable in a friend ; 
whether he is not already engaged in taking charge of many 



118 OF PRECAUTION IN THE CHOICE [CHAP. V. 

patients ; whether he is not devoted to other occupations, 
which distract his attention. Supposing we are satisfied in 
all these respects, we might have recourse to him to try his 
influence beforehand, and afterwards to put ourselves wholly 
under his care, if we receive it kindly, and if the physi- 
cian who approved the having recourse to magnetism, de- 
cides that it produces salutary effects. 

Then the person to be magnetized should look upon the 
magnetizer as a friend, and treat him as such ; for if they 
have no affection for each other, it is impossible to establish 
a perfect communication. Although the magnetizer re- 
ceives fees just as a surgeon would when he has come to 
dress a wound, he should not be moved by this motive, but 
by the desire of doing good ; and although the patient pays 
for the service, he ought not to show himself less sensible of 
the care bestowed upon him. The relation may cease at 
the termination of the treatment ; but so long as it lasts, 
they ought to be in confidence and friendship. If the pa- 
tient becomes a somnambulist, he should have near him a 
relation or a friend, who will take note of what he says in 
the somnambulic state ; and who will apply to a physician 
to know what is to be thought of his clairvoyance. No 
other witness should be admitted to the sittings than the one 
first chosen. The magnetizer on his part should agree 
never to mention any of the phenomena which take place 
during the treatment, provided he is not freely authorized to 
do it ; but when the treatment is at an end, he might pub- 
lish those of them whose publication might be useful, ob- 
serving the precaution of suppressing the names, and of con- 
cealing the circumstances which might designate them. 

What I have said of the communication established by 
magnetism between the operator and the recipient, and of 



CHAP. V.] OF A MAGNETIZER. J 19 

Ihe influence temporarily exercised by the former over the 
latter, shows clearly enough that in the present state of so- 
ciety, it would almost always be inconvenient for a man to 
be magnetized by his domestic. That can be done when 
he has an entire confidence in, as well as friendship for, his 
domestic ; and the domestic entertains towards his master 
the affection, the respect, and the devotedness that he would 
have towards a father.* It is not unfrequent that a wait- 
ing woman magnetizes her mistress with as much zeal as 
intelligence, without overvaluing herself on account of the 
good she does her. 

I have many times seen domestics who had become som- 
nambuhsts, magnetize exceedingly well while they were in 
the somnambulic state. It is a great advantage to have 

*M. le marquis de Puysegur has had for forty-five years in his 
service, a valet de chambre by the name of Ribault, who takes his 
place m his magnetic treatment, and who, in concert with him, has 
accomphshed surprising cures. He has magnetized the marquis 
with as much success as zeal, in several severe indispositions. He 
is an excellent man. Being instructed and perfectly convinced by 
seeing his master magnetize, he magnetizes with much calmness and 
energy, without searching into the reason of the effects that he pro 
duces M. de Puysegur thus expresses himself on this subject in a* 
note to the work which he published in 1811. « Tins clever man is 
the same that I had ibr an assistant magnetizerin 1784 and 1785 
and of whom I speak in my memoirs of that period. His attach' 
menttomeformore than thirty years, the esteem and friendship 
which I have for him, establishes between us that unison of inten 
ion and of will, which is known to be so necessary for the unity of 
the magnetic action." 9 

It is unnecessary to observe that this note is as honorable to him 
whc .wrote .t, as to him who is the subject of it. Why are not such 
examples more frequent ? 



120 OF PRECAUTION IN THE CHOICE CHAP. V.] 

near one, a somnambulist to dispose of; but whatever gra- 
titude we entertain towards him, we ought as much as pos- 
sible to conceal from him the fact that he is a somnambu- 
list. It is especially important not to let him suspect that he 
magnetizes while in the somnambulic state. 



NOTE. 



There exists with some individuals a magnetic power 
truly prodigious, of which I do not pretend to know the 
cause but of which I think it my duty to say a word ; first, 
to request those who are naturally endowed with it, to use 
it without ostentation, without endeavoring to produce aston- 
ishin- effects, but with simplicity, with prudence, ana solely 
with°a view to do good ; secondly, in order that, under cer- 
tain circumstances, people may apply to persons of whom 
they have heard marvellous cures related ; thirdly, in order 
that they may be well satisfied of the circumscribed and 
limited nature of the power to which I refer ; so that he 
who can perform certain things, will not succeed in obtain- 
ing effects less surprising, which are not of the same kind. 

For instance, many magnetizers induce somnambulism 
with very great facility, and do not hope for success except 
from this crisis, while others scarcely can effect it, yet do 
not do the less good. Some of them cure certain diseases 
only, others soothe or cure indifferently all that are cura- 
ble Some of them act only by the will, without any ap- 
parent magnetic process ; and they can even exert this ac 
tion at a distance : they put themselves in communication 
with the patient who applies to them, by uniting intention 



CHAP. V.] OF A MAGNETIZER. 121 

with him, and by the interchange of thoughts and senti- 
ments. Finally, magnetizers have been known who, pos- 
sessing an extraordinary power, make no use of it except 
to produce astonishing phenomena without any utility. 
These last expose magnetism to ridicule ; they drive wise 
men from the subject ; they furnish arms to those who con- 
sider it dangerous. I cannot too much persuade persons 
attached to the good doctrine, never to go and see these 
curious experiments ; they will derive no instruction from 
them, and they will have reason to reproach themselves 
with having, in some degree, authorized them by their pres- 
ence. 

To give an idea of the special faculties with w r hich some 
magnetizers are endowed, and of the use they should make 
of them, I will relate succinctly what determined me to re- 
flect on this subject. 

Last year I had occasion to form an acquaintance with 
M. le Compte de G***s, and he has become a friend of 
mine. He communicated to me his observations, and gave 
me a chance to witness many facts which proved to me 
how much his power excels that of most magnetizers. Such 
are these of which I am going to give an account. 

1st. A young woman suffered much from an obstruction 
peculiar to her sex, which had existed for several years. 
She made use, without success, of medicinal remedies, of 
such as were indicated by somnambulists, and she had been 
magnetized by several persons. M. de 6*?*a having been 
entreated one day to magnetize her, he did it with all the 
energy of which he was capable ; and in an hour he ob- 
tained a crisis which they had in vain attempted to produce, 
and which was necessary for the re-establishment of her 
health. 



122 OF PRECAUTION IN THE CHOICE [CHAP. V. 

2d. A very clairvoyant somnambulist was suddenly at- 
tacked with a burning fever, accompanied with delirium. 
She experienced colics, vomitings, suffocating sensations, 
and cruel pains in the head and in the loins. Her mag- 
netizer could neither calm her, nor throw her into somnam- 
bulism. While they were in the most lively alarm, he went 
to request M. de G***s to come to his aid. Three hours of 
continued action sufficed to dissipate the fever and the pains, 
to bring on a tranquil sleep which lasted all night, and to 
re-establish her strength to such a degree that the next day 
the patient found herself in condition to come on foot to the 
Jardin du Roi to give me an account of her cure. 

3d. A woman, whose husband had cured her of several 
indispositions by rendering her a somnambulist, and in 
whom he induced this crisis with the greatest ease, was run 
over by a carriage, and received very severe contusions on 
the head and on "the side : she was soon afflicted with vio- 
lent pains which her husband could not drive away. This 
state lasted three days, when one of his friends who knew M . 
de G # **s, prevailed upon him to try his skill. The patient 
soon entered into somnambulism ; but she declared she saw 
no remedy for her injuries. There is, said she, a swelling in 
my head, and magnetism only augments my sufferings. 
M. de G***s tried in vain to inspire her with confidence ; 
and it was in some sort against her will that he persisted for 
three hours in producing very painful crises, but of which 
he perceived the necessity. He finally succeeded in free- 
ing the head and the side. He restored her tranquillity, 
and she assured him there was no more danger, and that 
she owed her life to him. The next day he gave a second 
sitting, and became satisfied that the cure was complete. 



CHAP. V.] OF A MAGNETIZER. 123 

When M. de G***s assists at a somnambulic treatment, 
which has for its object the restoration of the patient to 
health, he thinks it would be indelicate in him to exert his 
influence otherwise than in subordination to that of the mag- 
netizer. But if he sees that this magnetizer desires to try 
experiments contrary to the end of magnetism, he is capa- 
ble of annihilating the action ; he need not even be present 
for this purpose ; provided he has once been put in commu- 
nication, he acts, although he is in another apartment, and 
without the magnetizer or the somnambulist having the 
least suspicion of it. 

We perceive that such a power would be dangerous in 
the hands of a man capable of abusing it ; but it would lose 
its energy, if it were not moved principally by the, love of 
doing good. M. de G # **s, besides great physical strength, 
possesses all the moral qualities which can render his action 
salutary ; and I would enlarge upon this point, if he were 
not to read what I say of him. He succeeds very easily in 
producing somnambulism — but this is only when he wishes 
it — and he magnetizes without bringing on this crisis, when 
he judges it necessary, and when he is not certain of being 
at liberty to continue the treatment. 

But here is an account of faculties very different, but not 
less remarkable. 

M. N***, who holds an office in a little village not far 
from Paris, had no idea of magnetism, when, at the begin- 
ning of last year he read the first volume of my Critical 
History. His son having then been ill for four years, he 
tried to magnetize him, and he cured him. His cook had 
rheumatic pains; he dissipated them. The last told several 
persons of her acquaintance, and very soon several patients 

L* 



124 OF PRECAUTION IN THE CHOICE [CHAP. V. 

came to request M. N** # to cure them. He succeeded in 
doing it. 

The number of these patients soon became so considera- 
ble, that not being able to treat them all with direct manipu- 
lation, he constructed a baquet, at which he finished by con- 
necting a dozen or fifteen in the morning, and as many in 
the afternoon. He devoted some minutes to each one of them 
to direct the fluid ; he soothed those who experienced crises, 
by taking them apart from the rest. But, notwithstanding 
the desire he had to accomplish it, he never produced com- 
plete somnambulism. Moreover, he went to the houses of 
the sick, who could not come out of doors. 

Things were thus when he came to find me, to tell me 
what he had done, and to ask my advice. Although he ex- 
pressed himself with the greatest simplicity, what he related 
appeared to me so extraordinary, that I desired to ascertain 
the facts. I went to pass two days with him at his house, 
I conversed with the patients whom he had cured, and with 
those who were under treatment. I advised him to substi- 
tute for his baquet filled with water, a dry baquet, in which 
should be placed bottles filled with magnetized water ; and 
three months after, I returned to pass three more days with 
him, to find out the results obtained since my first visit. 

I will not here relate the cures performed by this treat- 
ment ; it will suffice to say, that among those subjected to 
it, many had inveterate diseases, which had resisted medi- 
cinal remedies ; and that the small number of those who were 
not restored to perfect health, were considerably relieved. 

But here is what may be considered as more remarkable. 
M. N*** is exempt from enthusiasm, and he exerts over 
his patients a moral influence which is congenial with the 
dispositions of his own spirit. All who place themselves 



CHAP. V.] OF A MAGNET1ZER. 125 

round his baquet feel calm and agreeable sensations. Their 
imagination is never excited. They are attached to their 
magnetizer, and take an interest in each other. This influ- 
ence is perceptible in their character and their habits. A 
woman one day said, " I did not dare to be alone at night ; 
I was afraid of thunder ; I was afraid of mice : now I fear 
nothing." " Neither do I," responded three or four at the 
9ame instant. 

Although there is no decided case of somnambulism, 
many of the patients are in a magnetic state, which struck 
my attention, and which M. N**** did not himself sus- 
pect : they see the magnetic fluid ; some of them even per- 
ceive the currents of it. When M. N** # magnetizes a 
glass filled with water, they see a luminous vapor enter the 
water ; and this water, which they drank with avidity, is for 
them an excellent remedy. Some of them perceive when 
M. N*** approaches ; and I have seen a child eight years 
old, whom he used to magnetize at the house of his mother, 
indicate the moment when he left his apartment, and the 
path he had taken. M. N*** sometimes makes the rela- 
tions supply his place with the patients, and the confidence 
he inspires in those to whom he gives a few simple instruc- 
tions, enables them to succeed very well. 

We see that the action exercised by M. N*** differs 
greatly from what we have seen manifested in other mag- 
netic treatments. He dissipated some slight affections in 
two or three minutes. It seems as though a curative fluid 
continually emanates from him, and as though he needs 
only to use a simple act of the will to direct it. If I had a 
friend seriously ill I would advise him to address himself to 
this excellent man. 



126 OF PRECAUTION IN THE CHOICE, &C. [CHAP. V. 

Nevertheless M. N* # * has not great physical power, and 
the fatigue to which he has subjected himself has several 
times affected his health. He can see no one suffer without 
identifying himself with him, and devoting himself to his 
good service. More than forty patients owe their restora- 
tion to him. No person can suppose that any other motive 
than charity could have determined him to consecrate to the 
relief of the afflicted, all his leisure time. Yet he has not 
been able to escape malicious insinuations. Some persons 
have endeavored to detach from him those who came to ask 
his assistance, by telling them he could not do things so ex- 
traordinary but by the influence of the devil. Several per- 
sons have given him notice that if he continues to receive 
patients, they will denounce him as a charlatan, and that 
he will lose his office. They have also troubled the quiet 
of his wife, who found herself happy in the good she saw 
him do. And finally, to preserve his peace, he was obliged 
to put an end to his magnetic labors. 

I appeal to enlightened men : there are many of them 
among the ecclesiastics and among men eminent in society, 
who have correct ideas of magnetism. I hope they would 
not refuse to undertake the defence of the man whose sen- 
timents I have made known, if he had to repel the attacks 
of ignorance or. of envy. 



CHAPTER VI. 

OF THE APPLICATION OF MAGNETISM TO DISEASES, 
AND ITS CONNEXION WITH MEDICINE. 

From the time of Hippocrates, to our own days, medicine 
has been practised by men, who have consecrated their lives 
to study, who have called to their aid all the natural and 
physical sciences, and who, endowed with the talent of ob- 
servation, and with indefatigable zeal, unite to their own ex- 
perience that of their contemporaries, and that of their pre- 
decessors. Innumerable facts have been collected, discussed, 
and compared. A positive foundation has been established 
in anatomy, in the knowledge of external signs, which indi- 
cate the alterations of various organs, in that of the con- 
stant action which certain substances exert over the human 
body, in the comparison of the effects obtained by various 
modes of treatment, in the classification of diseases, and in 
some general principles founded upon experience, in rela- 
tion to which all are agreed. And yet medicine is still un- 
certain. Although it has been taught in the schools for two 
thousand years, physicians do not agree either about the 
cause of diseases, or the choice of proper remedies. The 
science has changed a hundred times, since the days of Ga- 
len ; and opposite opinions have reigned successively in the 
schools. There is hardly a disease, which has not been 
vanquished by different means ; there is no system unsup- 
ported by facts. The method preferred in one age, has 



128 MAGNETISM APPLIED TO DISEASES. [CHAP. VI. 

been rejected in another ; and at the same time, different 
sects have been seen to oppose each other, each one pro- 
fessing to have discovered the true way. Some physicians 
have declared themselves for the medicine that is to be ; 
others, for medicine as it is. Some are for using few reme- 
dies ; others advise having recourse to many. The most 
active medicines have been cried up with enthusiasm, or 
condemned as dangerous, according to its agreement with 
the doctrines of the leader of this, or that school. Even at 
the present clay, when the science of medicine has been so 
well taught, when the most exact observations have been 
collected, classed, and compared, when pathologic anatomy 
has arrived to the highest degree of perfection, physicians 
are still seen to differ in opinion relative to the use of bleed- 
ing, leeches, purgatives, and Peruvian bark, in this, or that 
disease. The pupils of one master, doubtless very skilful, 
maintain, that up to his time, no one has properly under- 
stood medicine ; while those of another school, acknowledg- 
ing that he has shed great light upon the nature and the 
seat of many diseases, and confessing the success he has 
himself obtained by his method, consider him, nevertheless, 
as a rash innovator, whose principles, too much generalized, 
may be erroneous and dangerous. 

Since there is so much uncertainty in medicine, which for 
more than two thousand years has formed a regular science, 
and whose principles, founded upon innumerable observa- 
tions, have been incessantly rectified by new observations, 
how much uncertainty there must of necessity be, in regard 
to magnetism, which, if it has been practised empirically 
from the highest antiquity, has not, at least, formed a par- 
ticular science, except for a small number of years, and can 
be sustained by' but few observations. Further, these few 



CHAP. VI.] ITS CONNEXION WITH MEDICINE. 129 

observations have been collected by men who are unac- 
quainted with medicine, and who were liable to be deceived, 
both in regard to the nature of the diseases and to the effects 
they have produced. Many of them have even been led 
astrav bv enthusiasm. And, finally, if we have very c.r- 
cumstantial and correct relations of cures operated by mag- 
netism in this or in that case, they have passed over m 
silence, similar cases, wherein they have made use of it 
without any success. 

Magnetism doubtless has a curative power truly prodi- 
gious. But in what cases ought we to have recourse to it? 
In what manner ought we to modify its action to give it the 
degree of energy which circumstances require ? When 
ought we to employ it alone ? When and how ought we to 
associate it with other remedial means? What modifica- 
tions of the ordinary medical treatment, ought it to intro- 
duce ? When does it act as a palliative ? When as a radi- 
cal cure ? In what cases will the effects it produces, au- 
thorizc us to believe it will operate a perfect cure ? Are 
there no cases where it may do mischief? are there none 
where it is absolutely insufficient ? Ought it to be employed 
equally in chronic and acute diseases? What are the dis- 
eases in these two classes, which it will most readily and 
most surely cure ? Should the crises resulting from its ac- 
tion be always considered as salutary effects ? As many 
somnambulists desire to be magnetized only during a cer- 
tain number of minutes, and at intervals more or less dis- 
tant, ought wc thence to conclude that persons, easily af- 
fected, but who are not somnambulists, can receive any in- 
jury from an action too much prolonged, or too ficqucntly 
'renewed ; and under this supposition, by what symptoms 
shall wc determine the season and the duration of the sit- 



130 MAGNETISM APPLIED TO DISEASES. [CHAP. VI. 

tings ? All these questions, and a thousand others not less 
important, cannot yet be satisfactorily and positively solved : 
and he to whom these do not present any embarrassment! 
is either an enthusiast, who breaks down all difficulties, or 
so ignorant as not to know them. 

Magnetism cannot take its rank among the sciences, and 
present a doctrine of which application may in all cases be 
made, until physicians take it up seriously/ to determine its 
effects upon various temperaments, diseases, and modes of 
applying it, and to compare these effects with those which 
other remedies produce in the same circumstances. 

Hence it follows that it would be rash to depend upon it 
alone for the cure of severe diseases, except in some despe- 
rate cases, where medicine has been thoroughly tried with- 
out success. I am far from advising you to trust in mag- 
netism exclusively ; I advise you to recur to it solely as an 
auxiliary to ordinary medicine. 

I will here add a moral consideration, which I have laid 
down in my Critical History. It is this ; if in a dangerous 
malady, you rely upon magnetism without consulting your 
physician, you take upon yourself a great responsibility ; 
and if the patient dies, you will have cause for self-reproach. 
Medicine itself could not have raised him ; this may be true, 
but you would have followed the ordinary course ; you' 
would have done what has always been done, and you 
would not be troubled with the fear of having neglected 
more efficacious means than the ones you have employed ; 
relations and friends would not be justified in blaming you 
for having made the patient follow a treatment of your own 
choice. 

Ought it thence to be concluded, that one should be very 
reserved in the application of magnetism, that he should not 



CHAP. VJ.] ITS CONNEXION WITH MEDICINE. 131 

have recourse to it except in slight affections, or in despe- 
rate cases ? Not at all. On the contrary, we ought to 
make use of it every time we can, observing to be prudent, 
and not to discard medicine. 

I know very well that cases will be found, where mag- 
netism, employed alone, with unbounded confidence, with all 
the energy possible, would have cured a patient ; but he is 
not cured, because the magnetizer has moderated the action 
too much, because he has not entirely devoted himself to 
him, and because he has used in connection therewith medi- 
cines which neutralized or counteracted its influence. But 
how shall we determine beforehand whether we ought to re- 
nounce all other means ? And is it not better to expose our- 
selves to the danger of not doing all the good possible to 
the patient, than run the risk of leaving him to perish by 
renouncing the methods generally pursued ? A man who is 
wearied of medicine by useless attempts ; who, not having 
received any relief from remedies, is determined to take no 
more of them, may well devote himself exclusively to mag- 
netism, and to claim for that purpose the cares of a rela- 
tion or a friend ; but none other than a physician has the 
right to give him such advice. 

I believed these reflections necessary to quiet the enthu- 
siasm of those, whom many astonishing cures have per- 
suaded that magnetism can triumph over all diseases ; that 
it is the medicine of nature ; and the only medicine truly 
salutary. 

I will lay down what I consider the best rules for prac- 
tice ; first, by examining the derangements of health in 
general, and then the various diseases.* 



* Before giving this chapter to the printer, I submitted it to the 
judgment of several physicians. 

M 



132 MAGNETISM APPLIED TO DISEASES. [CHAP. VI. 

In slight and recent indispositions, in those which are not 
absolutely attended with danger, and when the object is to 
dissipate a local pain, to prevent the consequences of a con- 
tusion, to promote the circulation by restoring heat to the 
extremities, to accelerate a cure which nature is operating 
alone, you might employ magnetism without any other pre- 
cautions than the ones I have pointed out, and without the 
least apprehension ; the only inconvenience might be that 
of not having succeeded. 

For example, one has a headache, you try to dissipate it ; 
a woman has colic pains, you drive them off; or if an ac- 
cident has recently arrested the progress of circulation, you 
make the blood take its natural course. You magnetize for 
a fluxion, a whitlow, (mat d'aventure,) for a slight wound, 
for a sprain, for a rheumatic pain, for the stomach-ache, for 
difficulty of breathing, &c. &c. There is no need of con- 
sulting any one ; It is enough if the patient desires it. Con- 
tinue it as long as you think it useful, and if you do not suc- 
ceed, you are not to be astonished at your want of success, 
but hope to be more successful another time. I have no- 
thing to say upon these kinds of indispositions, except that 
the magnetizer should set himself to curing them the most 
promptly, and as completely as possible, by simply aiding 
the action of nature without searching for any phenomena, 
without permitting any experiment, without dreaming of dis- 
playing the power with which he is endowed, or of prov- 
ing to the incredulous the reality and the efficiency of the 
means he employs. 

I wish to speak of diseases, for which, if we did not have 
recourse to magnetism, it would be requisite to follow some 
other treatment ; and I say it is prudent to impart to a phy- 
sician the resolution which has been taken to try magnet- 



CHAP. VI.] ITS CONNEXION WITH MEDICINE. 133 

ism, and to entreat him to observe the effects which this new 
agent produces, in order thereby to modify the treatment. 
This is general rule ; let us now discuss particular cases. 

Although we have not yet a great number of observations 
made by able men upon the effects of magnetism, there are 
some of them, how r ever, well established ; and from which 
conclusions may be drawn. There are also some, which 
prove the peculiar efficacy of this agent in certain cases. I 
am going to enter into some details on this subject. 

In Germany, Sweden, Prussia, and Holland, the physi- 
cians have attended to magnetism ; they have published the 
facts which they have witnessed, and have drawn instruc- 
tive results from them ; but as I am not acquainted with the 
languages in w T hich they have written, I have not been able 
to read their works. I am, therefore, obliged to limit my- 
self to the observations I have been able to collect in French, 
Latin, and English books, to those which have been com- 
municated to me by enlightened men, and to those which I 
have myself made, to serve as the basis of my principles. 
I arn at least sure that I shall not go beyond the truth, and 
that no one can reproach me with having pushed my confi- 
dence too far. I invite physicians who have studied mag- 
netism, to rectify my ideas, and to lay down rules, by the 
aid of which one may act with more boldness. 

Cures of almost all diseases, effected by magnetism, have 
been cited ; but it would be wrong to conclude from them, 
that magnetism is a specific for all. There are many indi- 
viduals on whom it acts very slightly, and perhaps not at 
all ; as there are others who are extremely sensible to it. 
Therefore, it cannot be said that magnetism cures this or 
that disease ; but only that it has cured these or those indi- 



134 MAGNETISM APPLIED TO DISEASES. [CHAP. VI.- 

viduals, who were attacked by it ; which is a very different 
thing. 

Besides, those who have written upon magnetism, have 
generally related cases wherein they have produced re- 
markable effects, without speaking of those in which its ac- 
tion has been powerless. 

Thus the various relations which have been published of 
cures operated by magnetism, are well calculated to reveal 
to us the inconceivable power of this agent ; but they do 
not enable us to understand either the limits of this power, 
or the obstacles which prevent its full effect. In regard to 
this, we can obtain instruction only from our own expe- 
rience, or by that of men, who, after having practised it a 
long time, have not forgotten the unsuccessful trials they 
have made, or the desperate cases in which they have suc- 
ceeded. 

But though we cannot affirm beforehand whether an in- 
dividual will be affected by magnetism, and whether he will 
be benefited by it, yet we know what diseases have most 
frequently yielded to its action, and in what manner we 
ought to modify its use to draw from it all the advantages 
possible. 

I am going then to speak of various diseases, and to point 
out the line of conduct which appears to me the wisest ac- 
cording to circumstances, and the cases wherein, from ex- 
periments made during forty years, you may be most War- 
ranted in expecting success. 

There are two great classes of diseases ; the acute, which 
are rapid in their progress, and which, when the dangers 
that they exhibit in their developement, are surmounted, 
terminate at a known period, and are succeeded by conva- 
lescence ; and the chronic, which are not limited in dura. 



CHAP. VI.] ITS CONNEXION WITH MEDICINE. 135 

tion, whose course is uncertain, and whose crises and symp. 
toms vary, without our knowing any very certain means of 
judging from them the probability of a cure. These dis. 
eases sometimes prove fataL in the end ; more often they 
render existence painful or languishing. Some are incu- 
rable : but in regard to no one of them, can we determine 
at what epoch a crisis will occur, which announces death or 
a cure. 

The conduct of the magnetizer should be altogether dif- 
ferent in these two classes of diseases. 

In acute diseases, call in the physician as soon as you can, 
and follow the prescriptions that he gives ; but tell him you 
desire to try magnetism as auxiliary. I do not think a sen- 
sible physician would take it ill that you passed your hands 
over the patient with the desire of curing him. If he re- 
gards the practice as absolutely useless, he cannot regard 
it as dangerous, provided it does not hinder you from ad- 
ministering the remedies he has ordered. If you obtain any 
remarkable effects, if you produce any crises, such as per- 
spiration, evacuations, &c. ; if you soothe the fever, or the 
pains, you will let the physician know it, requesting him to 
observe it ; and you will continue to follow his advice, un- 
til you have the happiness of obtaining well marked som. 
nambulism, accompanied with lucidity ; for in this case, the 
physician can enlighten you, and indicate to you the ques- 
tions which you should put to your somnambulist ; but the 
somnambulist should be heard in preference to him. 

You will attentively observe the sensations experienced 
by the patient, as you are establishing the currents of the 
fluid, and slowly making passes over all the body. These 
sensations, which often indicate the seat of the disease, will 
intimate to you when to modify, to lessen, or to increase 



186 MAGNETISM APPLIED TO DISEASES. [CHAP. VI. 

your action, and to direct it in preference to this or that part. 
The indications furnished by the physician may also be very 
useful to you, by engaging you to create a reaction towards 
a particular point to the advantage of an essential organ 
dangerously threatened with attack. You will take care to 
magnetize thoroughly all the drink which is given to your 
patient. You will examine whether the action of magnet- 
ism is agreeable to him. In case it disturbs him, it is neces- 
sary to cease. Try to make use of the simplest processes 
in order to cause your patient neither trouble, inquietude, 
nor astonishment. If your physician is not well convinced 
of the reality of magnetism, you should avoid magnetizing 
in his presence. The desire you have to produce percepti- 
ble and convincing effects, might withdraw your attention 
from the principal object, and be injurious to your patient. 
If you are too much fatigued, if your strength is exhausted, 
discontinue ; you should not magnetize him more. If the 
inquietude which the state of your patient causes, or the 
want of rest has brought you into a state of nervous excite- 
ment, cease ; you will do him harm. Wait until your tran- 
quillity is restored, and your confidence banishes your ap- 
prehension. 

If you have within reach a somnambulist who has already 
given you proofs of clairvoyance, you may consult him ; but 
you should make it a rule not to follow any one of his pre- 
scriptions without the consent of a physician. It may hap- 
pen that the somnambulist will say the physician has not 
well judged the character of the disease ; and that you have 
good reason to suppose he says the truth, from the descrip- 
tion of the circumstances which preceded the manifestation, 
and of the symptoms displayed by the patient, of which he 
had not the least knowledge. In this case you will find 



CHAP. VI.] ITS CONNEXION WITH MEDICINE. 137 

yourself embarrassed. You should have an explanation 
with the physician, preserving the respect due to him, but 
speaking with frankness and confidence, and entreat him to 
institute a new examination. If he does not agree, call in 
another physician to consult with him. If the physicians 
reject the advice of the somnambulist, you ought to rely 
upon them, whatever may be your own opinion. I make 
this one exception ; when the physicians pronounce the dis- 
ease desperate, and a perfectly disinterested somnambulist 
answers for the cure, and supports his assertions by argu- 
ments and proofs. 

During convalescence you should sustain the strength of 
the patient by magnetism. 

Neither during the disease, nor during convalescence, 
should we magnetize too long at a time. Two or three sit- 
tings of a half hour, or of three-fourths of an hour, ought to 
be enough in almost all cases ; and you will fatigue your- 
self uselessly by devoting more time to it. 

I say, " in almost all cases," because we sometimes meet 
with circumstances where we ought to keep up the move- 
ment impressed, or terminate a crisis commenced. Thus, 
the gout being carried to the head, and you have contrived 
to make it descend to the breast ; it is necessary to continue 
until you have drawn it to the feet. But then the effect 
produced suffices to point out what ought to be done, witnout 
the necessity of instruction. 

In the most violent acute diseases, magnetism has often 
been seen to quiet nervous movements, spasms, and the at- 
tacks of pain, to free the head, to put an end to the comatose 
state, to produce salutary crises, and to put the patient in a 
condition to take the remedies ordered by the physician, 
which it was before impossible to administer. 



138 MAGNETISM APPLIED TO DISEASES. [CHAP. VI. 

Several physicians who have caused magnetism to be 
employed under their own eyes, have declared to me that 
it has been of great assistance to them in facilitating the 
administering of remedies, and insuring their efficiency. 

It often happens that patients who are reduced very low, 
and can hardly breathe, are revived after being magnetized 
one hour ; they feel new strength, they experience a sensa- 
tion of ease which surprises them ; they even request to 
have some nourishment, which the physician can give them 
without inconvenience. Almost always when magnetism 
produces good, the pulse becomes regular. The change is 
so observable that the physician can always be convinced 
of it. 

Magnetism very often assuages a fever, or at least its 
pare xysms ; it puts a stop to the delirium ; it imparts strength 
at the same time, when it diminishes the agitation of the 
nerves. But the violence of the fever sometimes opposes 
the establishment of the magnetic communication ; it appears 
to repel the action, when this action has not been previously 
established.* 

There is no doubt that it is in the most severe acute dis- 
eases that magnetism acts with the most readiness and effi- 
cacy. It truly operates prodigies in those kinds of diseases. 
It does not always act, but when it does once act, it hastens 
the course of the disease ; it sustains and developes the 

* A physician, who has practised magnetism with great success, 
told me, that in very violent fevers he had obtained goo 1 effects by 
a process which I ought to mention. His process consists in dip- 
ping the hands into water acidulated with vinegar, and then to make 
long passes with the palms of the hands. He assured me that, by 
this means, he soothed the paroxysm, and often produced perspira- 
tion. 



CHAP. VI.] ITS CONNEXION WITH DISEASES. 139 

forces medicatrices. It rapidly brings on the crises which 
are to determine the cure. 

It is of great aid in putrid and malignant fevers ; in the 
former, it sustains the strength ; in the latter, it regulates 
the motions. It quiets the nerves in nervous fevers ; it gives 
strength to the stomach, and produces evacuations in bilious 
and gastric fevers. 

I would not dare to advise recourse to magnetism in case 
a very great inflammation, accompanied with a general dis- 
turbance of the functions, indicates the necessity of retard- 
ing the movement of the blood, and of weakening the pa- 
tient. Magnetism, properly applied, is soothing, since it 
re-establishes the equilibrium ; but it is not less true, that it 
is a tonic, and generally accelerates the circulation of the 
blood, and augments the vital action. Nevertheless, we 
can, in case of a general irritation, magnetize by the long 
pass at a distance, with the palms of the hands, and with 
the intention of soothing, taking care to throw off the fluid 
from the sides. If the magnetizer perceives a burning sens- 
ation in his hands, he can from time to time moisten them 
in acidulated water. 

When there is merely a local inflammation, as in the sore 
throat, (I' esquinancie,) it is easy to turn the blood from the 
direction it has taken : by drawing the fluid towards the 
legs and the feet, the upper portions of the body are disen- 
gaged. I have cured a quinsy under the eyes of a physi- 
cian whom I had invited. I magnetized on the second day 
of the disease ; the inflammation was stopped ; and on the 
day following the tumor could be opened without employ- 
ing any other means. 

In certain inflammatory diseases, which are seated in the 
most essential viscera, magnetism, employed at the time of 



140 MAGNETISM APPLIED TO DISEASES. [CHAP. VI. 

the attack, can perform wonders in re-establishing the gen- 
eral harmony and bringing about a crisis. Man}?- experi- 
ments prove that it has promptly cured pleurisies which 
commenced by a sharp pain in the side, and the spitting of 
blood. In this case, we begin by placing the palm of the 
hand upon the seat of the pain : we let it remain there some 
time ; then we spread the pain by making passes at a dis- 
tance with the open hand. We continue this during two 
hours, and if the pain is not dissipated, or at least consider- 
ably lessened, or if we have not brought on a salutary cri- 
sis, such as a general perspiration, we have recourse to the 
more prompt means of medicine. The time which passes 
between the instant when the physician is sent for, and the 
instant when he is enabled to come to the house of the pa- 
tient, suffices to ascertain whether magnetism acts well, and 
whether it can -subdue the disorder. And it is seldom that 
we are not necessitated to join some medical remedies to 
the magnetic treatment, and it belongs to the physician to 
prescribe them. 

I have known magnetism to cure very speedily, and by 
an action altogether peculiar, very severe inflammatory 
diseases. Here is an example. 

A lady, about fifty years old, had an inflammation of the 
stomach for more than a month. They had employed 
leeches, and all the remedies recommended by able physi- 
cians, yet the condition of the patient became every day more 
alarming. Her son, a medical student, having come to con- 
sult me in relation to the employment of magnetism, I ad- 
vised him to make use of it, by holding only for a short time 
his hands upon the stomach, and making many passes along 
the thighs and legs. Two days after, the young man came 
to tell me the pains had quitted the stomach, and were 



CHAP. V.] ITS CONNEXION WITH DISEASES. 141 

lodged in the bowels, which troubled the physician. I as- 
sured him that he had rendered himself master of the dis- 
ease, and that he could make it descend to the extremities. 
In fact, the following day, she experienced slight twinges in 
the thighs, afterwards in the legs, and the abdomen was en- 
tirely freed from inflammation. During the disease, the 
stomach had lost its digestive energies. As there was then 
no more irritation to be feared, they acted strongly upon the 
stomach by the application of the hands, and its usual tone, 
which it had lost, was restored. The patient having been 
weakened by leeches and by dieting, had a very long period 
of convalescence, but her health was perfectly established 
in the sequel. 

• One might collect from the works on magnetism, and es- 
pecially from those which have been published by the phy- 
sicians of Germany, a great many instances of cures effected 
in acute disease by the magnetic treatment. I should make 
two observations on this subject. 1st. To form an opinion 
of the curative power of magnetism, we should depend solely 
upon relations given by physicians, who have been enabled 
to judge the character of the disorder, the severity of the 
symptoms, and the progress of the cure. 2d. We should 
not attribute to the action of magnetism alone, the cures of 
diseases in which the patient has been somnambulous, and 
still less those in which he has consulted somnambulists, be- 
cause then the action has been aided by remedies. 

I have sometimes seen acute diseases cured by magnet- 
ism alone, at the moment when they had reached the high- 
est degree of violence. I think it proper to recite an instance 
of this kind. 

M. Boismarsas, an old soldier, at present guard of the 

monument erected in the place Vendome, having been at- 



142 MAGNETISM APPLIED TO DISEASES. [CHAP. VI. 

tacked by the cholera morbus with excruciating pains, vo- 
mitings, and convulsions, the ordinary remedies had been 
resorted to in vain, and they entertained little hope of sav- 
ing his life. M. Despres, one of the physicians called to 
the consultation, proposed to try magnetism, which he had 
known to succeed in an analagous case ; the other physi- 
cians having consented, although they expected nothing from 
it, he came instantly to look for me. I soon saw that the 
patient was sensible to the magnetic action ; and his wife 
perceiving the effect I had produced, I told her she could 
cure her husband, and I showed her how to set about it. 
The vomitings and the convulsions ceased at the first appli- 
cation of the hands ; a slight sleep soothed him, he took no 
more medicine, and in five days the patient was restored.* 
I do not pretend to conclude from this fact, that we should 
obtain the same result in all similar cases. I merely con- 
clude from it that the soothing action of magnetism can read- 
ily restore the equilibrium, and this is a reason for trying it 
in the most violent diseases. We are sure it cannot be in- 
jurious when properly applied, but its efficiency, less or great, 
depends upon a number of circumstances which we cannot 
appreciate. 

Among the proofs of the power of magnetism, one of the 
most convincing, is, that it has been known to rekindle life 
at the very moment it seemed to be extinguished, as oxygen 
gas relumes the brand upon which there remains only a fee- 
ble spark.f When important organs are so much altered 

* M. J. Dupotet has already reported this fact in his " Exposi- 
tion of the Experiments made at the Hotel Dieu, in 1820." 

t There are several examples of it in German writers. A very re- 
markable one is found in a work, entitled The Russian in Paris, 
printed in 1814, by Baiba, 2 vols. 12mo., at the 223d page of the 



CHAP, VI.] ITS CONNEXION WITH DISEASES. 143 

as to be no more able to perform their functions, this return 
to life is of short duration. But there are cases when such 
a power has been able to save a patient who appeared in a 
desperate condition. 

If the French physicians would take the trouble to col- 
lect the facts hitherto published, to submit them to a critical 
examination, and join them to their own observations, we 
should soon have surer data in regard to the efficaciousness 
of magnetism in acute diseases ; at present we must employ 
it with prudence, and as auxiliary to medicine. Let us come 
to chronic diseases. 

The patient who applies to you has a disease more or 
less inveterate ; he has tried various remedies, or he has not 
yet tried any. 

If the disease is recent, and if the patient has not under- 
gone any treatment, you can dispense with the services of a 
physician ; provided you do not wish to obtain his opinion 
upon the nature of the disease, upon the chances and means 
of cure, in order to appreciate in the sequel the effects which 
magnetism shall have produced. 

As the progress of these diseases is slow, there is no in- 
convenience in deferring the use of remedies ; and this for 
various reasons. In the first place, to assure yourself that 
the changes effected are due to magnetism ; in the next, to 
avoid disturbing the course of nature by foreign agents ; 
finally, that nothing may trouble or annoy the patient, who 
ought to abandon himself entirely to you. Continue this for 
about a month, even although you obtain no apparent re- 
first volume. The anecdote there related is the exact truth. The 
author, who was an eye-witness, put the recital of it into my mouthy 
although 1 had not recounted it to any person. 
N 



144 MAGNETISM APPLIED TO DISEASES. [CHAP. VI. 

suit, and with stronger reason, if crises occur; except in 
case you see the essential symptoms of the disorder grow 
worse. In general, the curative action displays itself sooner, 
the less inveterate the disease is. 

If the patient has already taken remedies, you will pre- 
vail with him to leave them off for a few days, in order to 
observe more carefully the action of magnetism. Substitute 
for his drinks, magnetized water. You will recommend to 
him to live temperately, and to avoid fatigue and excess of 
all kinds. 

There are some diseases which are both very severe and 
very long-seated, the origin and principal seat of which are 
not well ascertained, which have for a long time resisted all 
the remedies, whose symptoms become every day more 
alarming, and which excite apprehensions for the life of the 
patients. For these diseases, people generally desire to try 
magnetism as a fast resource ; but it is in relation to these 
that the magnetizer ought to reflect much, and take the most 
measures before charging himself with the treatment. 

First, he must ascertain whether the patient is firmly de- 
cided to continue the treatment all the time necessary, per- 
haps for more than six months, and whether the persons who 
have influence or authority over him, will not endeavor to 
oppose this decision. For in this kind of diseases, when the 
action is once well established, and the crises are at hand, 
it is very troublesome to struggle against obstacles, and dan- 
gerous to interrupt the treatment. It is also necessary for 
the magnetizer so to arrange matters as to have the treat- 
ment regular, to have it regarded as the most important af- 
fair for himself, for the patient, and for the family of the 
patient, until a cure is effected. Finally, the patient must 
make it a point of honor to give all his confidence to his 



CHAP. VI.] ITS CONNEXION WITH MEDICINE. 145 

magnet izer, to take advice from him only, and to follow ex- 
actly the regimen he prescribes. 

If, as I have always recommended, he wishes to avail 
himself of the information and skill of a physician, it is essen- 
tial to choose one who is acquainted with the effects of mag. 
netism, that he may not order remedies which might oppose 
the developement of ciises. This physician ought not to 
assist at the treatment, provided Ire is not familiar with the 
various phenomena of magnetism ; he may see the patient in 
the intervals of the sittings, and favor the magnetizer with 
his observations. But he should never be admitted for the 
purpose of satisfying his curiosity, or of augmenting his be- 
lief. It is proper for the magnetizer to have a good sub- 
stitute ready, in case any circumstance, such as sickness, 
or a necessary journey, imposes a suspension of his duties 
for some days. And it would be very advantageous that, 
until a cure is effected, the treatment undertaken should be 
kept secret from all but the relations or intimate friends, 
with whom we ought not and cannot make a mystery of it. 
In imparting it to the physician in whom we have confi- 
dence, we should request him in like manner, to say nothing 
about it. 

The precepts I here give, are very rigorous ; but there 
are cases when they are very important. Their applica- 
tion may be modified according to circumstances, and ac- 
cording to the severity of the complaint. 

Let us now enter into some details relative to the various 
chronic diseases, which are the most common. 

In torpid diseases, in those of the lymphatic system, em- 
ploy magnetism with all the energy possible. Aid yourself 
with the chain, if you have the means of forming one. 



146 MAGNETISM APPLIED TO DISEASES. [CHAP. VI. 

Many examples of the cure of dropsy are given in the 
books ; I have myself cured it in three instances. Magnet- 
ism produces crises of perspiration and of diuresis. You 
may, nevertheless, second nature by light sudorifics or diur- 
etics ; in selecting which, you should consult your physi- 
cian, and magnetize them thoroughly. They will then 
take effect, although they have ceased to exert any action, 
if they have been given in large doses before the magnetic 
treatment. 

Magnetism is a sovereign remedy for enlargements of 
the glands. I have often seen the glands of the breast 
when much enlarged and very painful, cured by it, when 
the most able physicians and surgeons had advised their 
extirpation ; and I have been successful in that way mysulf. 
I have seen some of them which would not entirely disap- 
pear, but would be reduced to very small size, and which 
remaining in this condition for several years after the treat- 
ment had ceased, have not caused the least pain or incon- 
venience. When the action is established, it is proper to 
blow upon the affected parts through a linen cloth several 
times folded, when it can be done without fatigue. Gene- 
rally when the gland begins to lessen, a crisis comes on, man- 
ifested by inflammation and local pains. This crisis is 
transient ; it creates no cause of alarm ; until it has passed, 
you may employ magnetism by the long pass, to lessen the 
pains and the inflammation. 

In obstructions and enlargements of the viscera, magnet- 
ism is the most powerful of all remedies. You should pre- 
sent the points of the fingers, moving them round to spread 
the fluid, and then drawing it off; or you may use the 
breath, as before. The treatment is sometimes very long. 
Critical pains are experienced in the region of the obstruc- 



CHAP. VI.] ITS CONNEXION WITH MEDICINE. 147 

tion ; but the patient grows better each day, and the ob- 
struction is dissipated gradually. The obstructing substance 
may be thrown out of the system, by using laxatives. In- 
sensibility to magnetism proves the cure to be complete. 

But when the obstruction of an essential organ is arrived 
to such a point that it performs none of its functions, and its 
tissue is destroyed or entirely changed, magnetism may be 
dangerous. By rousing the sensibility, by exciting a lively 
movement in the obstructed organ, it may produce a crisis 
beyond the ability of nature to support; and the patient 
will die much sooner than he would if the obstruction had 
remained inactive. I have known examples of this sort. 
In order to avoid this liability, you should consult a physic- 
ian who will determine whether the obstruction has become 
incurable ; and in this case, you should not undertake the 
treatment. You might, however, attempt two or three 
times, not to concentrate the fluid upon the seat of the ob- 
struction, but to magnetize by the long pass, to see whether 
the patient is susceptible of somnambulism ; for if he be- 
comes a somnambulist, he will tell what ought to be done, 
and we do not know but he may be cured. 

Magnetism has wrought astonishing cures in scrofulous 
diseases. The history of Greatrakcs suffices to prove it. 
When these diseases are long-seated and inveterate, much 
patience is required. When they are hereditary, I doubt 
whether they can be radically cured. 

Ulcers, which have exhausted the resources of medicine, 
have frequently been healed by magnetism. I will mention 
a few instances. 

A woman, fifty-eight years old, had an ulcer on the leg, 
and it was apparently healed by topical applications. But 
two months afterwards, there rose on the top of her head a 

N* 



148 MAGNETISM APPLIED TO DISEASES. [CHAP. VI. 

swelling, which, having acquired the size of an egg, burst, 
and poured forth a greenish, purulent, and foetid matter, 
mingled with clots of corrupted blood. Soon after, the 
bones of the head exfoliated, exposing an orifice, the ulcer 
increased, and the physicians judged it incurable. The 
patient was about five years in this state. She suffered 
continually. She was deprived of sleep and desired nothing 
but death, when M. le chevalier Brice, a geographical en- 
gineer attached to the post-office department, wished to 
make trial of magnetism, of which she had no idea. At 
first he quieted the violence of the pains ; he restored sleep; 
he produced crises ; and notwithstanding the strong repug- 
nance which this frightful malady naturally inspired, not- 
withstanding the fatigue he experienced, he had the courage 
to continue, and the happiness of succeeding after four 
months of uninterrupted cares. The cure being accom- 
plished, he still magnetized her once a week for several 
months. This fact is still more worthy of attention, because 
it was not attended with somnambulism, nor with any phe- 
nomenon calculated to excite curiosity. This woman con- 
stantly made use of magnetized water, and took no medicine. 
She was one day magnetized by a very strong man, who 
put her asleep; but this proved to be injurious. 

The four facts following just took place at Corbeil ; the 
correctness of which 1 went thither to ascertain. 

1st. A woman who had an ulcer on the leg for ten 
years, was cured in thirty -five sittings. 

2d. A man seventy-five years of age, who for the last 
three months apprehended the necessity of having his leg 
amputated, on account of an ulcer as large as his hand, 
which increased from day to day, is now almost cured. 



CHAP. VI.] ITS CONNEXION WITH MEDICINE. 149 

The opening is no more than a quarter of an inch in diam- 
eter.* 

3d. A man who had been wounded, had been troubled 
with a sore in consequence of it for two years, which had 
been dressed with lint. This sore was closed in a few days. 

4th. A soldier lost an arm in service in 1813. Last 
winter the wound opened, and he suffered much. He was 
restored to health with such rapidity as greatly to astonish 
him. "I have travelled much," said he to me, "but I 
never saw the like of this." 

In pulmonary phthisis in the last stages, I do not believe 
that magnetism can effect a cure : it is beyond its power to 
regenerate an essential organ which is almost destroyed. 
If there is a cough, oppression, difficulty of breathing, or 
weakness, it eases the respiration, lessens the cough, restores 
the strength, diminishes the sufferings, and quickly brings 
on an observable relief; but it does not prevent the progress 
of the disorder — perhaps it is even to be feared that by aug- 
menting the activity, it accelerates the final crisis. It is 
requisite then, to use much moderation and prudence, and to 
continue the use of magnetism only so long as the patient 
desires it, and feels its soothing influence. 

It is proper to try magnetism in a slow fever. If this 
fever be of a nervous kind, we can, perhaps, succeed in re- 
storing the equilibrium ; if it is produced by an interior sup- 
puration, the cure is not very probable, unless we can in- 
duce somnambulism. But as the action is borne directly to 



* M. de Puysegur has just published an account of an analogous 
fact ; but the patient having become somnambulic, prescribed rem- 
edies for himself, and his cure was not wholly owing to the mag- 
netic action. 



150 MAGNETISM APPLIED TO DISEASES* [CHAP. VI. 

the seat of the disease, it powerfully aids medicinal remedies, 
and even has a particular efficaciousness. 

Asthmatic attacks are almost always soothed by magnet- 
ism ; and 1 am persuaded that this disease could be entirely 
driven off by a prolonged treatment. 

We have seen wonderful effects in casual and chronic 
vomitings, when all medical means have been thrown aside. 

M. Barbier, who resides at Rheims, was for twenty years 
afflicted with this cruel malady. He could not, for a quar- 
ter of an hour, keep the lightest food upon his stomach. He 
followed my advice in having recourse to magnetism. On 
the second day the vomiting ceased, and a treatment of two 
months established him in perfect health. 

Two girls, one of whom had been troubled in this man- 
ner for fifteen months, the other for ten months, were lately 
magnetized at the Hotel Dieu ; both of them ceased to vomit 
after the second silting.* 

In nervous diseases, if there be a prostration of strength, 
inaction, or torpor, magnetism is a sovereign specific. It 
acts without producing apparent crises. 

If there are spasms, convulsions, &c, it generally quiets 
them ; and it often produces crises more or less singular. 

If there is a general irritation, an excitement of the nerves, 
or a nervous fever, it frequently happens that it does not 
act ; sometimes it augments the irritation. In general it is 
less efficacious in the nervous affections, which are called 
vapors, and in the greater part of other diseases, when they 
are long-seated, and when many remedies have been taken, 



*See the " Exposition of Experiments in Animal Magnetism made 
at the Hotel Dieu at Paris, during the months of October, Novem- 
ber, and December, 1820, by J. Dupotet." 



CHAP. VI.] ITS CONNEXION WITH MEDICINE. 151 

it produces singular phenomena ; but this does not prove 
that it will cure the more readily or the more speedily. The 
somnambulism of persons whose nerves are very delicate, 
presents strange crises, and traits of marvellous clairvoy- 
ance ; but the patient whose imagination is very excitable, 
and whose attention is distracted by a thousand objects, does 
not see so distinctly his disorder and its remedy. With such 
somnambulists we must require calmness and prudence ; it 
is with these that we should most fear to be dazzled by won- 
derful results, and led away by curiosity. It is especially 
necessary to be attentive, that the patient do not remain in 
the magnetic state during the interval between the crises. 

Of all disorders, the most frightful in its attacks, the most 
formidable by the dangers to which it exposes, and the most 
inaccessible to remedies, is precisely that which offers the 
most convincing proofs of the power of magnetism ; I mean 
epilepsy. It is not because we are sure of triumphing over 
it. If many epileptics have been radically cured, with many 
others, the violence and the frequency of the attacks have 
been diminished merely, and I have found such in my own 
practice. But it is certain, that in the great number of epi- 
leptics who have been under magnetic treatment, many 
more perfect cures have been obtained from it, than from 
medicine. We should, therefore, never hesitate to employ 
it. The attempts may be fruitless, but they are not attended 
with any inconvenience. In many other Jong-seated dis- 
eases, you ought not to commence a treatment until you are 
sure of continuing it ; if you have excited a crisis, it is es- 
sential to bring it to a close ; but in this one, the worst thing 
is to leave the patient in the state in which he is. 

A good magnetizer will hardly ever fail to put a speedy 
stop to an attack of epilepsy ; but he would do wrong to 



152 MAGNETISM APPLIED TO DISEASES. [CHAP. VI. 

conclude from this, that the cure of the disorder is easy. 
The treatment of epilepsy demands on the part of the mag- 
netizer great confidence, courage, perseverance, and de- 
voted ness. 

Epilepsy may be hereditary or accidental, long-seated or 
recent. It may originate in a defect of organization, in a 
derangement of the nervous system, in an irregular move- 
ment of the blood or of the humors, in the suppression of an 
evacuation, or in several other causes ; therefore, we can- 
not know beforehand, whether it will yield to the magnetic 
treatment. The attacks being generally irregular, and re- 
newed at epochs more or less distant, they may be sus- 
pended fur a longer or shorter time without having the cause 
destroyed. But we have more reason for confidence when 
the attacks are frequent, than when they were rare, before 
the employment of magnetism. For example, he who had 
attacks every day, may be regarded as cured, if he passes 
two or three months without having any ; while it is neces- 
sary to wait a year to form a similar judgment in relation 
to one who had these attacks only once a month. 

Hence it follows, that when the patient is freed from his 
attacks, it is necessary to continue magnetizing him, in order 
to prevent the return and destroy the cause of them. When 
several of the epochs at which the patient usually experi- 
ences his attacks, have passed away without his having the 
least symptoms of the disorder, we may discontinue mag- 
netizing him every day ; we may at first let a day, then 
two days, then three days, and finally a month intervene 
between the sittings ; but we should constantly continue the 
use of magnetized water, which ought to be employed from 
the first day of the treatment, and a long time after discon- 
tinuing the sittings. It would be well, also, for the conva- 



C£AP. VI.] ITS CONNEXION WITH MEDICINE. 153 

lescent to carry about him an object magnetized, which the 
magnetizer will take care to charge from time to time with 

the fluid. 

Somnambulism has been frequently induced in cases of 
epilepsy. If it occurs, the magnetizer knows what he ought 
to do, and what he ought to expect. He is even almost 
sure of curing the patient, provided he conforms himself to 
the principles I have given for the direction of somnambu- 
lists. 

I am acquainted with a young lady of twenty, who has 
had attacks of epilepsy ever since she was nine years of 
age. They were very frequent at certain periods, and had 
been unsuccessfully treated by able physicians * It is three 
months since she had recourse to magnetism. From the 
first month the attacks became weaker and less frequent ; 
at the end of the second month they entirely disappeared, 
and her health is now as good as any one can desire. She 
interdicted to herself all sorts of medicine, and declared it 
necessary to magnetize her two months more, every other 
day, and that without this, the disorder would return. 

Unhappily she imagines that magnetism makes her sleep 
three hours every day of natural sleep. She does not be- 
lieve in somnambulism. She says she is cured, and her 
mother has great trouble in making her continue a treat- 
ment of which she is wearied. 

As the disease was caused by an accident, and as the som- 
nambulist has given proofs of great clairvoyance, I do net 



*I have read four of the consultations given by different physicians. 
In the three first, the malady is designated by the name of symp- 
tomatic or sympathetic epilepsy ; in the fourth, it was called an in- 
curable hysteric affection. 



154 MAGNETISM APPLIED TO DISEASES. [CHAP. VI, 

doubt that she will be radically cured, provided she does 
not interrupt her treatment before the termination of the 
period she has assigned. 

In the diseases which physicians call hysteric aff. ctions, 
diseases which are long, painful, variable in their symptoms, 
the seat of which is in the abdominal viscera, and which 
medicine herself despairs of, magnetism exerts the most 
powerful and the most salutary action. It produces won- 
derful effects, and the cure is generally wrought by singular 
crises, sometimes very violent, and about which we should 
not be alarmed. It is in this malady that we most frequently 
obtain a very lucid somnambulism, attended with extraor- 
dinary phenomena ; but we should not forget any one of 
the precautions I have mentioned. The magnetizer ought 
to rein in his curiosity, preserve his self-possession, inter- 
diet to himself all experiments, carefully avoid exciting the 
imagination of tHe somnambulist, prevent him from attending 
to things foreign to his health, not flatter his vanity by ap- 
pearing astonished at his clairvoyance, not yield to his ca- 
prices, watch that he follows a suitable regimen, not push 
the magnetic action beyond ^what is necessary, and abso- 
lutely break all communication between the magnetic and 
the ordinary state. When, in this disease, somnambulism 
naturally ceases, it is a proof of the perfect re-establ Aliment 
of health. I here repeat several things which I have said 
in my chapter on somnambulism ; but it is because there is 
no disease in the treatment of which the magnetizer is more 
exposed to be carried beyond bounds by the wonderful phe- 
nomena, and because there are none in which such deviations 
are more dangerous. 

The hypochondriac affection is nearly allied to the hys- 
teric affection, and yields in the same manner to magnetism; 



CHAP. VI.] ITS CONNEXION WITH MEDICINE. 155 

but with this difference ; the cure is often effected without 
apparent crises, and by a gradual diminution of the symp- 
toms of the disease. The strength, the gaiety, the appetite, 
the complexion, the good bodily condition, return by little 
and little. The same effect takes place in chlorosis, or 
leucorrhoea. 

Magnetism is effectual in all kinds of paralysis. It almost 
always restores the sensibiluy, and re-establishes the move- 
ment ; but sometimes sharp pains appear as the sensibility 
returns. It is then necessary for the magnetizer and his 
charge to have patience. In palsy of the limbs, it is proper 
to make magnetic frictions. If magnetism acts in a per- 
ceptible manner, and appears insufficient, you should seek 
to aid it by the remedies indicated by the physician. 

Paralysis of the organs of motion, is sometimes attended 
with pains, which the magnetic action can drive off, without 
restoring motion. The paralysis of the lower limbs, often 
springs from an affection of the spinal marrow. It is then 
necessary to magnetize, commencing at the back, and con- 
ducting the action along the thighs to the extremities of the 
feet. I have magnetized a man who was in this condition. 
I did not cure him, but I greatly relieved him. After each 
sitting, his feet were red, as if they had been served with a 
mustard poultice. In paralyses which originate in the dis- 
organization of a part of the brain, I presume that a cure is 
impossible. 

In the " Relations of Cures operated in France," you will 
find more than sixty of paralysis ; and in this number only 
three are mentioned as somnambulists. I make this remark 
because nothing more fully proves the efficacy of magnetism 
than this disease. In the first place, the patients not having 
been somnambulists, they did not prescribe remedies for 



156 MAGNETISM APPLIED TO DISEASES. [CHAP. VI. 

themselves, and they owe their health to magnetism alone. 
In the next place, when people wish to publish magnetic 
treatments, they prefer to choose the ones which have pre- 
sented singular phenomena ; and since they have cited sixty 
cures of paralysis, it is probable that there have been ten 

times as many. 

Magnetism speedily soothes spasms, by re-establishing 
the equilibrium. In spasms, especially when they proceed 
from a moral cause, a concentration of the vital strength 
generally takes place towards the interior of the body, which 
becomes evident from the coldness and paleness of the ex- 
tremities. These spasms ordinarily terminate in a diuretic 
movement, which the magnetic action favors, while at the 
same time it brings back the heat towards the parts which 
were deprived of it. 

Recourse should be had to magnetism in cases of mental 
alienation. I do not, however, believe that it will cure this 
disorder, when it is hereditary, or of long standing, when it 
springs from a defect of organization, and when there is a 
continued state of phrensy. But when the disorder is ac- 
cidental and recent, there is much reason to hope for success. 
As a proof of this, I will mention a fact of which I was a 

witness. 

A young man twenty years old, became so insane as to 
be placed in a lunatic asylum. His afflicted family made 
application to a man who possesses in a high degree all the 
qualities which constitute a good magnetizer. He went to 
see the young man, and after reiterated attempts for three 
days, he succeeded in putting himself in communication, to 
make his presence desirable, and entirely to soothe his fits. 
In fifteen days the cure was complete, and there remains 
no symptom of the excitement which preceded the phrensy. 



CHAP. VI.] ITS CONNEXION WITH MEDICINE. 157 

Persons whose minds are alienated, are often known 'to 
experience pleasurable sensations in the presence of certain 
persons who have a natural dominion over them, and to 
whom they submit without resistance. Those whose pres- 
ence frightens or repulses them, will not accomplish it. It 
is probable that with most insane people whose fits are ir- 
regular, one might produce a soothing influence followed 
with sleep, and eventually with somnambulism ;* then their 
restoration is almost certain. If he has a prevalent idea, 
the magnetizer may chase it away by an effort of the will. 
I know very well that the greater part of the trials of this 
kind would be fruitless ; but here the thing is so important, 
and medicine has so few resources, that we should not 
neglect a means whose success is possible. 

When women are threatened in an essential organ, with 
schirrosity or ulceration, magnetism is the best and the most 
active of all remedies ; but I do not believe it will bring 
about a cure if the disease has made much progress. In 
this case, it first dissipates the pain, and restores the 
strength ; but the disease re-appears afterwards, and grows 
worse, notwithstanding all the care bestowed upon it. 

Many inconveniences and also some severe diseases are 
produced in women by a suppression or a disturbance in 
the course of circulation to which nature has subjected them. 
In these cases, which are very frequent, the action of mag- 
netism is proved by innumerable facts. It almost always 



* The history of the disorder and the cure of the young Hebert, 
published by the Marquis de Puysegur, is one of the most curious 
and most instructive works, that can be consulted in relation to the 
power of magnetism to calm the agitation of the nerves, and to stop 
the fits of madness which spring from it. 



158 MAGNETISM APPLIED TO DISEASES. [CHAP, VI. 

establishes the circulation, sooner or later, according to the 
length of time since the appearance of the disorder. It is 
requisite to direct the action from the sides to the feet, let- 
ting the hands rest a moment at the knees.* You will 
avoid putting them on the stomach, except when you are 
about to commence the long passes. You will particularly 
avoid putting them on the head, for fear of causing a ten- 
dency of the blood thither. Somnambulism being frequently 
displayed in this disease, you may expect to obtain it ; but 
for the reason I have just hinted at, you must take good 
care not to provoke it, by concentrating the action upon the 
brain. When the desired effect has been produced, you 
will content yourself with lightly magnetizing, so as to es- 
tablish the general harmony of the system. 

In intermittent fevers, you should first employ the long 
passes, then the application of the hands upon the stomach, 
from whence sweep off towards the feet. You should 
choose the moment when the attack commences. You will 
often have the satisfaction of arresting the ague fit the first 
time you try, and the fever only will take place with great 
heat. You will also magnetize on days when there will 
not be any attack. Fevers very frequently cease after a 
few sittings, say from three to six. It is proper to magnet- 
ize several days more, and give the patient magnetized 
water to drink, to prevent the return of the complaint. 

In pains of the stomach which proceed from debility, the 
application of the hand upon the stomach creates a heat 
which is tonic and curative. If there is any irritation this 
process is not proper ; you should then act at a distance 

*This process ought not to be employed, if there is reason to 
suspect a state of pregnancy. 



CHAP. VI.] ITS CONNEXION WITH MEDICINE. 159 

with the most soothing processes. If the stomach is coated 
with bile or with sordes, which may be discovered by the 
state of the tongue, you should not dispense with an emetic 
or a purgative, provided magnetism does not immediately 
excite one of those motions, which often takes place with 
persons very sensitive to its action. 

To cure the head-ache attended with cold feet, put your 
hands upon the head for several minutes, continue with the 
long passes, and make repeated passes over the limbs. The 
feet will become warm ; the head will be free. If the head- 
ache be accidental, make use of magnetized socks. The 
megrims, which have their seat in the stomach, yield to the 
application of the hand upon the region of that organ. Those 
which are nervous, are more difficult to cure. You may 
make a trial of various processes, and draw the fluid from 
the head, by conducting it towards the sides. If the pain is 
periodic, if it has existed for years, if it is the consequence of 
a blow, if it is produced by a gathering in the head, it ought 
to be considered as a chronic disease, which exacts pro- 
longed attention. In this case you could easily throw it off 
on a sudden ; but there is danger If you do not continue 
your treatment many days in course, in order to destroy the 
cause, by bringing on a crisis. In general, when we have 
dislodged a periodical pain, it is essential to continue the use 
of magnetism, until the epoch when an attack is expected to 
return. The cure cannot take place except by a crisis, which 
must not be left imperfect, and we have no grounds for sup- 
posing it to have been effected, until we see that the expected 
attack has failed to come on. The sudden dislodgement of 
a humor, which has been fixed a long time in an important 
organ, may bring on a serious disorder when we neglect to 

sustain and direct the movement we have first given, 
o* 



160 MAGNETISM APPLIED TO DISEASES. [CHAP. VI, 

Pains produced by a stoppage of the perspiration, are al- 
most always cured by magnetism, the most ordinary effect 
of which is to re-establish the perspiration. The ills caused 
by the suppression of a local perspiration, as in the feet, the 
hands, &c, disappear in the same manner by the return of 
that perspiration, which may be effected by drawing towards 
the extremities. You must take some care to keep up this 
perspiration. 

In rheumatisms, sciatica, &c, the pains are sometimes 
considerably relieved, and even carried off, at the first sit- 
ting ; at other times they are merely dislodged. They are 
most generally soothed or dissipated by degrees, after a 
treatment of greater or smaller duration. Rheumatism is 
generally chronic ; but it may be classed with the acute 
diseases, be accompanied with a violent fever, and impose 
the necessity of a medical treatment analogous to that of in- 
flammatory fevers. In this case we should magnetize at a 
distance, drawing beyond the extremities, and by the most 
soothing processes. We should hasten to call in a physician, 
who, from the effects first produced, will judge whether he 
can dispense with having recourse to other remedies. It is 
in acute rheumatism, that, upon certain subjects, magnetism 
operates in the most prompt and surprising manner. I have 
seen patients, who were affected in every limb with pains so 
lively, that the slightest touch was insupportable to them, be- 
come so much relieved after half an hour of magnetic action, 
at a small distance, that I could give them frictions without 
their experiencing the least unpleasant sensation. But when 
the pains are thus assuaged, we should not imagine the dis- 
ease to be cured. This cannot be done without a crisis, or a 
prolonged treatment ; and, as I have already said, it belongs 
to the physician to declare what it is proper to do in order 



CHAP. VI.] ITS CONNEXION WITH MEDICINE. 161 

entirely to dissipate the inflammation, to prevent the recur- 
rence of the pains, and to destroy the cause of the mischief. 

I ought to add, that of all the diseases treated by mag- 
netism, rheumatism is the one in which the most success has 
been obtained, although somnambulism has been very rarely 
produced. 

I do not know whether it would cure the gout seated in the 
foot or the hand, when there are chalky concretions (nodus) ; 
but I have seen a fit of the gout, so violent that the patient 
could not put his foot to the earth, relieved by one sitting, 
and so cured by three, that the pains have not returned for 
eighteen months. I have also seen a somnambulist, in fifteen 
days, cure her magnetizer, who, for a long time, suffered 
with the gout in the knees and in the feet. For this purpose 
she merely employed passes along the legs, continuing them 
each day for a quarter of an hour. As it is only six months 
since this cure was wrought, I cannot affirm that the som- 
nambulist does not mistake in saying the disease will never 



again return, 



When the gout has mounted into the head or the chest, 
magnetism readily brings it down to the feet. Three ex- 
periments of this kind which I have lately made, were per- 
fectly successful. It is true that the patient was very sen- 
sible to the magnetic influence, and perfectly in communi- 
cation with me. 

I think magnetism would be an excellent remedy in scor- 
butic affections, produced by bad air, by bad diet, by ob- 
structed evacuations, &c. When this affection is constitu- 
tional, and has reached its last stage, if the cure is possible, 
it must at least be very difficult ; but the magnetic action 
will greatly aid the power of medicine. The magnetizer 
ought to employ an energetic and well sustained action. 



162 MAGNETISM APPLIED TO DISEASES. [CHAP. "VI, 

Diseases of the eye are so numerous and so various, that 
they are become the special object of study with a class of 
physicians who attend exclusively to them, and who judge 
that the treatment takes a long time, and that the cure is 
very uncertain. I believe that magnetism is better suited 
to them than any other remedy, because it directs its action 
immediately upon the organ of vision, and penetrates into 
the brain. In most cases, it acts more efficaciously than 
bleeding, purgatives, and blisters. If the eyes are weak, it 
imparts to them strength. In ophthalmia, it dissipates the in- 
flammation, by turning aside the humor which has a tendency 
to the eyes. In an incipient paralysis of the optic nerve, it 
would be well to restore motion and sensibility to it. 

I have many times seen cures effected in a few days, of 
ophthalmias for which the most skilful oculists had judged 
it necessary to make a complicated treatment. The pro- 
cesses should be varied according to the nature of the dis- 
order. If there is an inflammation, we should seek to lessen 
it, and draw it off; we establish the equilibrium. If there 
is want of action, (atonie,) we act directly upon the eyes by 
presenting the fingers united at the ends ; or rather, we 
hold the thumbs over the eyes, and place the fingers upon 
the temple. It is expedient, in all cases, to bathe the eyes 
with magnetized water, which almost always excites a pe- 
culiar sensation. One might also, for a quarter of an hour, 
and several times a day, hold in his hand a bottle of mag- 
netized water, presenting the mouth towards the eyes at the 
distance of a quarter of an inch.* 



*In speaking of magnetized water in another chapter, I forgot to 
point out this process, from which I have seen remarkable effects, 
especially in an inflammation in the interior of the nose. 



CHAP. VI.] ITS CONNEXION WITH MEDICINE. 163 

When a disease of the eyes has reached a certain point, 
or when it springs from organic injury, it is plain we cannot 
succeed in the remedy. In the gutta serena, when blindness 
had been total for seven years, I have, at the end of fifteen 
days, restored the faculty of seeing the light and of distin- 
guishing certain objects. The pupil recovered its sensibility, 
which caused it to contract ; but I could go no further ; and 
when I ceased to magnetize, at the end of six months of 
patient attention, the blindness returned by degrees. If the 
disease had not been of such long standing, it is probable 
that I should have succeeded in curing it. 

I do not think it would be possible to destroy a well 
formed cataract ; yet I saw, at Corbeil, a woman whose 
total blindness was attributed to a cataract, and who was 
cured in a fortnight. 

Opacities in the cornea of the eyes, (taies,) have been 
frequently made to disappear. I am acquainted with a 
woman whom this disorder, produced by the small pox, had 
deprived of the use of one eye, and who recovered it while 
being magnetized for another disease. Here is another in- 
stance to prove that we may sometimes succeed by contin- 
uing with patience, although at first we may have produced 
no effect. 

M . Paul Geritz, a physician and a professor in the Institute 
Georgicon, at Keszthely, being at Pest, was consulted in 
relation to a girl eight or nine years of age, who, in conse- 
quence of the small pox, had one eye entirely covered with 
a film so thick that she could not see the light. He judged, 
as did all the physicians who had been consulted, that the 
disease being incurable by the ordinary means, it was use- 
less to administer remedies ; but the child having inspired 
him with much interest, he resolved to undertake her treat- 



164 MAGNETISM APPLIED TO DISEASES, [CHAP. VI. 

ment with magnetism. During two months the action ap- 
peared absolutely powerless ; the third month the film grew 
thinner, and in the succeeding one the cure was complete. 
M. Geritz, during his recent visit to Paris, related this fact 
to me, and authorized me to cite it. 

For two months I magnetized a young woman of seven- 
teen, who had had, ever since her birth, a film upon the 
right eye, and whose left eye was so feeble that she could 
not read or work by the light of a wax candle without much 
fatigue. The film was made considerably thinner, and I 
do not doubt that it would have entirely disappeared, if I 
had not been obliged to discontinue the treatment. As to 
the left eye, it acquired and it has preserved for ten years 
all the strength she could desire. 

Accidental deafness yields to or resists the magnetic 
treatment, according to the cause which produced it. The 
most appropriate process consists in directing the magnetism 
into the orifice of the ear by the fingers united to a point, 
and by blowing into it, to determine thither the currents. 
Deaf mutes have sometimes been successfully treated ; ap- 
parently when the deafness has originated in torpid action 
(atonie) or obstruction, and not in the absence or the lesion 
of any essential parts of the organ.* As to buzzings and 
pains in the ear, they are often dissipated with surprising 
quickness. It is the same with the tooth-ache when nervous. 

* In the establishments where there are together either deaf 
mutes or the blind at birth, it would be very useful if the physician 
would treat the sick magnetically, at first to cure them, then to 
find out what ideas are developed in those who become somnambu- 
lists, and what expression they give them. The result of this ex- 
periment, which does not present any difficulties, would certainly 
throw light upon physiology and psychology. 



CHAP. VI.] ITS CONNEXION WITH MEDICINE. 165 

I have not yet spoken of a class of diseases, some of which 
are chronic, others acute. These are cutaneous phlegma- 
sias ; as the small- pox, the measles, the chicken-pox, biles, 
ulcers or carbuncles, pimples in the face, scald head, &c. 
I believe magnetism a remedy for all. In the small-pox 
and the measles, it hastens and regulates the progress of the 
disease, and facilitates the eruptions. If by accident the 
eruptions strike in, which is very dangerous, it makes them 
re-appear. There are many instances of it. 

In biles, if you magnetize at the moment the inflammation 
commences, it is possible to reduce it, by facilitating the cir- 
culation and producing a light crisis. If the bile is already 
formed, you may lessen the pains and greatly hasten the 
maturity by employing a local action. I have several times 
made the attempt with complete success. For a felon, we 
ought to make passes along the arm as far as the extremity 
of the finger, upon which we concentrate the action, and 
then draw it off from the end ; and if we make use of a 
soothing or a drawing cataplasm, we should take care to 
magnetize it well. For pimples in the face, we should em- 
ploy the long passes, and repeat the passes over the legs. 

There are possibly cases wherein magnetism would not 
succeed in curing the scald head ; but it will always be well 
to try it before having recourse to medicinal remedies. I 
have seen a child of five or six years cured in two months, 
by the long passes, by the trough, and especially by mag- 
netized water, which was a powerful drastic. 

It is probable that the use of magnetism in tetters, and 
similar affections, would be attended with good results, es- 
pecially if magnetized water acts as a purgative. 

The state of pregnancy ought never to be an obstacle to 
the use of magnetism. In this state, it can even render the 



166 MAGNETISM APPLIED TO DISEASES. [CHAP. VI. 

greatest service. It has often been known to remedy sen. 
ous accidents, which occasioned fear of immature accouche- 
ment. It has also been seen to render the pains of child- 
birth more easy ; which may be readily supposed from its 
increasing the strength, and quieting pains and nervous 
crises. 

I believe that in the state of pregnancy, especially during 
the early months, passes ought not to be made along the 
thighs and the legs. They might give the blood a move- 
ment which it is important to avoid. 

After the birth has taken place, magnetism may still be 
of great utility, particularly in re-establishing the natural 
course of the milk, when it has been interrupted.* The 
choice of processes depends upon circumstances, and can be 
determined by the principles I have given. 

At the close of«a very laborious accouchement, the newly 
born child exhibits scarce any sign of life, because it has 
not strength to move the inspiratory muscles which are 
necessary to establish the respiration. He would then 
perish for want of air, if people did not succeed in exciting 
this movement by various means; such as frictions, and 
the introduction of air into the lungs. M. Thiriat, Professor 
of Obstetrics, has ascertained by experience, that magnetism 
Produces the desired effect very speedily. He has employed 
it by blowing upon the chest through a linen cloth. He 
supposes, with some reason, that the same means would be 
very efficacious in recalling persons to life in cases of as- 
phixia. [See Bibliotheque Magnetique, tome 4, page 149.] 



* It is plain that we should abstain from magnetism when we 
wish to let the milk dry up. 



CHAP. VI,] ITS CONNEXION WITH MEDICINE. 167 

Magnetism drives away most of the pains of children at 
the breast ; it gives them strength, and favors the develope- 
ment of their organization. Mothers employ it by a natural 
impulse when they see their children suffering, and succeed 
in soothing them. They would have much more success if 
they had entire confidence in the power with which nature 
has endowed them. 

In general children are very sensible to the magnetic 
action. As soon as they have experienced benefit from it, 
they perceive that he who has magnetized them has the 
power of curing them by the processes they have seen him 
employ, and they are eager to demand the same assistance 
when they find themselves unwell. A child of five years, 
that I see every day, having been stung in the nose by a 
bee while I was walking with him, I took away the pain 
in a few minutes. Ever since that, he comes to ask me to 
cure him whenever he has the slightest complaint. 

A physician, who has, for eighteen months, followed the 
treatment of M. Wolfart, at Berlin, tells me that this cele- 
brated magnetizer used to have a sitting twice a week, for 
very young children ; that after having placed around the 
trough the nurses and the mothers, who carry them in their 
arms, or hold them by the hand, he makes several passes 
over them, which the children regard with delight. He 
also told me that he did not recollect seeing any of them 
cry during the time of the sitting. Finally, he said that at 
the hour of the treatment, the children that had been carried 
thither many times, testified by their gestures and their 
cries, their desire of being conducted to the place again. 

Among the numerous facts which prove the speedy and 
efficacious action of magnetism upon children, I will record 
two which I have verified, 
p 



168 MAGNETISM APPLIED TO DISEASES. [CHAP. VI. 

A child of eighteen months, a girl, had an orgelet which 
caused her much inconvenience. Her father took her upon 
his knees, and magnetized her, putting his hand over her 
eyes. The ehild immediately fell asleep. One hour after, 
she awoke, and the orgelet had disappeared. 

Madame ***, of Chalons, on the Marne, had a child of 
six years, whose bowels were extremely loose for many 
days in succession. All imaginable means had been em- 
ployed to remedy this weakness. His mother at length 
began to magnetize him. At the first sitting, magnetism 
produced an extraordinary evacuation ; at the second, there 
was another movement of the same kind ; and at the third, 
the child was cured. She continued the treatment several 
days, without his experiencing any sensation ; and he has 
not since had the least symptoms of his complaint. 

Surprising effects have often been obtained by means of 
magnetism upon young persons who were rickety ; or, who 
had defects of conformation, which seemed to demand for a 
long time, the well-contrived mechanical means of our days, 
joined to internal remedies. An able physician related to 
me, that after having attended unsuccessfully a young lady 
who had a considerable curvature of the spine, he made a 
trial of magnetism, and was much astonished to see, at the 
end of some, months, the vertebral column restored to its 

proper position. 

I knew a girl, twelve years old, whose lumbar vertebrae 
formed a considerable projection ; a respectable clergyman, 
who had first administered the communion service to her, 
advised her mother to magnetize her, and he charged him- 
self with the direction of the treatment. In a fortnight the 
vertebrae recovered their natural position. This girl had a 



CHAP. VI.] ITS CONNEXION WITH MEDICINE. 169 

fever, and internal pains for two years ; she had consulted 
many physicians, and taken much medicine. Magnetism 
constantly relieved her, but it could not cure her. 

I saw at Corbeil, a girl of fifteen years, who, from early 
infancy, had one leg shorter than the other by six inches, 
and a callosity at the hip as large as the fist. In six weeks 
of treatment, the callosity diminished one half, and the leg 
lengthened three inches ; at the same time she recovered 
her strength. 

I will not say more in relation to the effects produced by 
magnetism in various diseases, and to the mode of applica- 
tion which I think preferable, according to circumstances.* 
I return to general observations. 

I have said, that in order to succeed, we must unite con- 
fidence to will. But it is useful to be forewarned, that the 
power which we employ has limits which we cannot pass. 



* One of the founders of the Magnetic Society, which existed at 
Paris, and of which M. le marquis de Puysegur was President, pro- 
poses to publish an exposition of all the cures operated in France 
from the time of Mesmer, until the present. This work, the man- 
uscript of which I have read, will form two octavo volumes, with 
analytic tables. The works from which its authorities are extracted, 
make more than sixty volumes. One may therein find all that can 
throw light upon the kind of diseases, the mode of treatment, and 
the crises which have brought relief, or a cure. The compiler 
chiefly intended to give an account of cures made by physicians, or 
under their direction. The number of those who have given their 
testimony, is more than two hundred and fifty. This collection of 
facts will save the trouble of searching for them in a great number 
of books, some of which are very difficult to find ; and nearly all 
of which, contain useless details, or theories more or less hypo- 
thetical. 



170 MAGNETISM APPLIED TO DISEASES. [cHAP. VI. 

In many chronic diseases, known to be incurable, because 
they attack an essential organ, and have made much pro- 
gress, magnetism often produces a change which astonishes 
us, and after which we do not doubt that we have obtained 
mastery of the disease, and that it will be cured in a short 
time; but the patient very soon relapses into his former 
state, and perishes at last. It is because magnetism, which 
cannot triumph over an organic affection in an advanced 
stage, dissipates at first the accessory diseases ; it gives 
strength, it restores sleep, it quiets the nerves, it puts an end 
to pains, it diminishes swellings ; but the essential malady 
always exists ; it afterwards re-appears ; magnetism has less 
influence, and the patient ordinarily loses all confidence. 
This is no reason for not making a trial of magnetism ; but 
it is a reason for not flattering ourselves, for not declaring 
as certain the cure of a long-seated disease, because we have 
produced in a few days a notable change, and an ameliora- 
tion which we could not have obtained by all the medicinal 
remedies. 

Besides, there are many diseases which are constitutional, 
or which originate in the blood, or which principally attack 
the nerves. In these, magnetism may act beneficially with- 
out destroying the cause. We should not, therefore, expect 
more from it than it can perform. One would be wrong in 
supposing he might find a better magnetizer, or might suc- 
ceed by more active processes. It is necessary for the pa- 
tient to know how to resign himself to living with his enemy, 
(as the vulgar saying is,) and for the magnetizer to have 
the courage to continue a treatment, which does more good 
than any other, and is not attended with inconvenience. 
Governing himself by the nature of the malady, one might 



CHAP. VI.] ITS CONNEXION WITH MEDICINE. 171 

cause himself to be magnetized a quarter of an hour daily, 
or not have recourse to magnetism, except when the need 
of it is felt. How many people of my acquaintance owe 
to magnetism a supportable existence, without flattering 
themselves with the prospect of being restored to perfect 
health ! 

It happens pretty frequently that after having at first a 
very perceptible amelioration, magnetism ceases to act, or 
at least to manifest its action ; then the patient becomes 
dissatisfied ; he renounces it and has recourse to medicine. 
This is very prudent, in case he has not yet taken any ; 
but I ought to observe, that I have never seen a disease, for 
which the resources of medicine have been exhausted, and 
which has afterwards been aided by magnetism, cured by 
new medicinal remedies, after the aid of magnetism has 
been renounced. 

On the contrary, a disease has been known to be weak- 
ened and to be finally cured by magnetism, after a very 
long time, when the patient dared no more to please himself 
with the hope of restoration. I am going to cite an in- 
stance. 

A young woman, very interesting, born in Paris and 
married in one of the provincial towns, was for three years 
tormented by the tic douloureux. She had consulted seve- 
ral physicians ; she had tried a great number of remedies, 
and made great use of Peruvian bark. Her stomach was 
in a very bad state. Having had an opportunity to see her 
during a journey which she made to Paris, I advised her to 
try magnetism, and I made trial of it for two months in 
succession. I put her asleep several times without produc- 
ing somnambulism. I succeeded in driving off the pains 
p* 



172 MAGNETISM APPLIED TO DISEASES. [cHAP. VI. 

when she had an attack, but I could never prevent their 
return. When she returned home, I made her husband 
engage to continue the treatment. During two years he 
magnetized her every day without being able to cure her ; 
but the attacks became less frequent, and less painful ; and 
the magnetized water, of which she made constant use, 
rendered her digestion very easy. Finally, at the end of 
four years, she was, by the perseverance of her husband, 
restored to perfect health. 

The subject of which I have just treated, is susceptible of 
great developement. When able physicians shall have 
studied magnetism, they will be able to give us new light 
upon the modifications which the seat and the symptoms of 
different diseases require in the application of this agent. 
Nevertheless, the details into which I have entered, appear 
to me sufficient for the direction of persons who wish to 
employ their faculties in the doing of good. If I have 
sought to inspire confidence, I have taken still more care 
to maintain that confidence within the limits of prudence. 
By following the plan I have traced out, no one will have 
cause to repent having made use of magnetism as an aux- 
iliary to medicine. 

It remains for me to make two observations, one of which 
is applicable to all the severe diseases which have been 
cured by magnetism ; and the other to those in which it 
has exerted a great influence. 

I have said that when one has restored health to a pa- 
tient, and when the convalescence has terminated, it is 
necessary to cease magnetizing. But people have remarked 
in many diseases, that a year after the cure, they have ex- 
perienced disagreeable feelings or some accidents which 



CHAP. VI.] ITS CONNEXION WITH MEDICINE. 173 

rouse their concern lest the cause of the disease may not 
have been entirely destroyed. When, therefore, we have 
ended the treatment of one of these diseases, I think it a 
very prudent precaution to have recourse anew to magnet- 
ism for a fortnight, when about a year has elapsed since the 
termination of the treatment which brought on the cure. 
This is not always necessary ; but, in the uncertainty, you 
would do well to follow this rule, especially if you are not 
far from the magnetizer to whom you owe your restor- 
ation. 

When magnetism has established a communication between 
the magnetizer and the person magnetized, when the latter 
has entered into the state which we call the magnetic state, 
and above all, when he is a somnambulist, there is no doubt 
that the magnetizer may act upon him at a distance, if he 
makes a vigorous effort to that end. I ought to observe 
that the exercise of this power exacts the greatest precau- 
tions, and that we never should permit ourselves to make 
use of it for mere experiment. It is without doubt very 
curious to try whether we can make our action perceptible 
to one who is distant from us, and who is not conscious of 
our attempt ; but it may be attended with many inconven- 
iences ; it may even give rise to mischievous results. 
When there is no somnambulism, the inconvenience is 
to excite demi-crises, which we can neither develope or 
sustain. Upon him who is susceptible of somnambulism, 
there is danger of producing that state when the patient is 
with persons who are not in communication with him, and 
who by touching him, or by seeking to awaken him, may 
do him injury. I have said that he who would magnetize 
ought to free himself from all curiosity ; and it is in this 



174 MAGNETISM APPLIED TO DISEASES. [CHAP. VI. 

case especially that it is highly requisite to make the appli- 
cation of this principle* 

Yet there are cases when the magnetizer should make 
use of the faculty which he has of magnetizing from a dis- 
tance ; but this should be after having taken all the proper 
precautions, and never through motives of curiosity. Your 
patient has sharp pains ; you presume they will prevent his 
sleeping at night; you have discovered that you can assuage 
these pains by your presence ; occupy yourself with him, 
and magnetize him by the thought, with the sole intention 
of soothing him ; it is probable you will succeed in it. If 
your patient is a somnambulist, ask him when in the som- 
nambulic state, if you could do him any good by acting upon 
him at such an hour. If he makes you engage to do it, 
then take the proper precautions, so that nothing may inter- 
rupt him ; tell him at what hour he ought to be alone, or 
with the person 'who is accustomed to assist at the sittings, 
and to whom you have imparted your intention. Thence- 
forth you have nothing to fear, and somnambulism brought 
on at the hour when nature has need of it, will do him much 
good. But people will say that somnambulism has been 
brought on by the imagination of the patient, and not by my 
thought and by my will. People will say nothing about it : 
for you ought not to tell any one of the phenomena, at least 
until after the cure. But I should not know myself whether 
I have really acted upon him. Of what consequence is that ? 
Do you magnetize in order to convince yourself, or to cure 
your patient ? If to cure him, it is indifferent whether you 
cure him by your own influence, or by that of his imagina- 
tion. Besides, you have no need of searching for extraordi- 
nary phenomena to fortify your own faith ; and if you have 



CHAP. VI.] ITS CONNEXION WITH MEDICINE. 175 

a somnambulist very susceptible, chance will offer you so 
many wonderful facts, so many convincing proofs, as to as- 
tonish you. Once more, when you magnetize, it is not for 
yourself; it is solely for the patient who has delivered him- 
self over to your care, your benevolence, and your affec- 
tion. 

It has frequently happened, that a magnetizer has con- 
tinued the treatment of a somnambulist, who had been 
obliged to separate from him, and that the patient has writ- 
ten, while in the somnambulic state, a detail of his crises, 
and what must be done to finish the cure.* This will al- 
ways succeed with a prudent magnetizer, and a docile som- 
nambulist. But if the precautions have been badly taken, 
if the magnetizer neglects to occupy himself with his patient 
at the appointed hours, it would be better, a hundred times, 
to break the communication and abandon the patient to 
nature. 

With many subjects we may renew somnambulism by 
means of a magnetized object. This facilitates the action 
of the magnetizer, but it does not dispense with the neces- 
sity of thinking about the patient in order to sustain and 
regulate the crisis. 

They who are not acquainted with the phenomena of mag- 
netism, will consider as absurd, what I have just said ; but 
they who have once recognised in themselves the influence 
they can exert upon their somnambulists, would be exposed 



*I possess several letters, written in a state of somnambulism. 
They are much superior to those which the same persons write in 
their ordinary state, not only as it respects depth of thought, but 
also, elegance of style, and choice of expression. 



176 MAGNETISM APPLIED TO DISEASES. [CHAP. VI. 

to commit imprudences, if I did not warn them of the dan- 
ger. It is, therefore, my duty to make known what I know 
to be the truth, without troubling myself about the opinions 
of the incredulous. I do not ask of the persons to whom I 
address this instruction, to take my word for the reality of 
the extraordinary phenomena. I merely request them to 
follow the advice I give them, whenever these phenomena 
present themselves. 



NOTE. 

A physician of the Faculty of Paris has just sent me an 
observation which I think it useful to publish, because it 
relates to a disease of which I have not made mention. 

A constant ve/tigo and an accidental clioree cured by mag- 
netism.— Mademoiselle S***, aged thirty -eight years, expe- 
rienced, on the 17th of October, a violent fright, which 
suddenly changed the state in which she was by producing 
a suppression. Twenty-four hours after, there were heavi- 
ness in the lumbar regions and in the lower parts of the 
abdomen, head-ache, loss of appetite, irregular motion in 
the arm and the leg on the right side. These motions 
greatly resembled the Saint Vitus ? s dance. The physician 
employed for the space of three months all the appropriate 
remedies ; leeches, sedatives, antispasmodics, sulphate of 
quinine, &c. He considered the stomach and the abdomen 
to be better ; but he could not succeed in dissipating the 
vertigo, in re-establishing the course of the blood, or in quiet- 
ing the nervous motions. The patient, who was much af- 
flicted, demanded whether magnetism would not be useful 



CHAP. VI.] ITS CONNEXION WITH MEDICINE. YK 

in these circumstances. The physician advised her to try 
it He ceased giving medicines, and recommended her to 
live temperately. They commenced magnetizing her m the 
middle of January, only three times a week, and twelve or 
fifteen minutes at a sitting. The patient drank nothing hut 
magnetized water. At the beginning of February, the 
nervous symptoms were gradually dissipating, and totally 
disappeared by the middle of the month. The patient re- 
covered her freshness and gaiety, the blood retook its natu- 
ral course, and in the month of March, she recovered her 
health. 



APPENDIX. 3? 



Note 12. 



The following paper was drawn up by M. B. L*******, 
a gentleman at the head of one of our noblest literary insti- 
tutions, from notes taken at the time of experimenting. One 
thing adds much to its value ; and that is, the early date at 
which it was drawn up. This serves also to explain why 
circumstances are stated so minutely, which are now so 
well known in this vicinity to be attendant on most experi- 
ments of the kind. There is no danger of carrying such 
minuteness too far in this subject, since those who are fa- 
miliar with its phenomena, and those who are not, are 
equally prone to form hasty conclusions, without sufficiently 
considering the great variety of phases they present, and 
the intricacy of principles they may involve. To make theo- 
ries is very easy; but to observe facts requires patience and 
caution. Hence we hear men every day, in regard to this 
subject, speak dogmatically, as though they had established 
every thing they utter by a careful observation of the facts 
as they exist ; whereas its acknowledged difficulties ought 
to make us more cautious, and more willing to bestow care 
upon it. This paper was not intended for publication. 

Providence, 12th month, 1836. 
To assist the memory of the writer, and for the gratifica- 
tion of a few of his particular friends, the following brief 
account of Animal Magnetism as witnessed and practised 
by himself, has been penned. It contains a simple state- 
ment of certain phenomena produced upon one individual 
by another, principally by the agency of the will, assisted 
by certain manipulations, known by the name of "passes." 
The attention of the writer was first called to the subject by 
perusing notices, published in Boston papers, of wonderful 
effects, caused by Bugard and others, such as producing a 
sleep so profound that a tooth could be and actually was 
drawn, without occasioning any painful sensation. Far 
from putting confidence in these statements, but little was 
thought of the subject, till an intimate friend gave him some 
J) 



38 APPENDIX. 

account of a lecture he had attended, (perhaps the evening 
previous,) on Animal Magnetism, hy Charles Poyen. He 
was unphilosophical enough to exclaim, " I do not believe 
it '" and to attempt to prove its fallacy by its strangeness. 
This circumstance is mentioned to show that the writer was 
far from being prejudiced in favor of what was then gene- 
rally believed to be a humbug. 

As, however, animal magnetism became the general topic 
of conversation, and as questions of this sort— ,' What do 

you think, Mr. , of animal magnetism ? ' « Dost thou 

j hink M , there is any thing in animal magnetism .' 

were'repeatedly asked, to which, of course, he could give 
no satisfactory answer, he came to the conclusion to em- 
brace every opportunity for gaining information, which 
could lend assistance in forming a judgment, tar from 
finding an associate in his immediate circle, lie undertook 
the investigation alone. 

To carry into effect this resolution, Charles Poyen s .Lec- 
tures were attended, his experiments at Pawtucket witnessed, 
and finally the Report of the French Commissioners read, 
lit is proper to remark that the experiments at Pawtucket 
were far from being satisfactory. It seemed to be the opin- 
ion of the experimenter that the object in coming was rather 
to behold wonders than to investigate. There was appa- 
rently, therefore, no exertion to remove whatever might 
lead to suspicion of artifice.] But still being unsatisfied, 
the only way remaining seemed to be for the writer to ex- 
periment for himself, which he did, as follows : 
P First attempt.-Individual-L— T_, a young man 
about twenty-three years of age, in good health, except 
occasional difficulty of digestion. Time-twenty.fi ve min- 
utes. Effects— nothing worthy of note. 

Second attempt.— Subject, time, and effect, same as last. 

Third attempt.— Subject— a young lady, about seventeen 

years old, in good health— said to be nervous. Time, and 

effect, same as above. 

Fourth attempt.— Subject, time, and effect, same as be- 
fore. 



APPENDIX. 



39 



Fifth attempt.— Subject— a young lady, about eighteen 
years of age, apparently in good health. Time — twenty- 
five or thirty minutes. Effects — drowsiness and great dif- 
ficulty of keeping the eyes open — flow of saliva to the 

mouth. 

Sixth attempt.— Subject— G C , a lad fourteen 

years old, subject to attacks of croup. Knew nothing more 
of animal magnetism than the name. Of good endowments, 
and an innocent and affectionate disposition. 

12 mo. 13th. — Time, effects, &c— He was called to the 
writer's room about 5 P. M., seated in a rocking-chair, and 
told that he was to be magnetized, and all that he must do, 
was to sit still and keep his eyes open as long as he could ; 
to which he assented. There was no one in company ex- 
cept his brother. The manipulations were the same as those 
mentioned in the French report, under the name of passes. 
Notwithstanding repeated laughter from the brother, yet 
scarcely five minutes had elapsed, before evident effects 
were produced — an incessant tremor of the hands, and oc- 
casionally motions of the feet. Ten minutes— convulsions 
increased, particularly in the hands and arms ; lids partly 
closed, with constant motion, resembling rapid winking. 
Fifteen minutes — convulsions continued ; lids closed, but still 
in motion. Twenty minutes — little change during the last 
five minutes ; occasionally, sudden convulsive motions of the 
whole body. The magnetizer now despaired of producing 
sleep ; supposing the nervous system to be affected by the 
imagination, and mistaking the convulsive motions of the 
eyelids, for voluntary. The process ceased. The brother, 
with a laugh, exclaimed, " George !" But no reply was ob- 
tained. The magnetizer. — * Art thou sleepy, George?" 
" Yes," replied G. C. " How long before thou wilt be 
asleep?" " One minute." S. A. (a teacher) was called in, 
and requested to ask him a question ; which he did repeat- 
edly, without getting any answer, till the magnetizer men- 
tally directed him to reply, when he answered immediately. 
The company were completely astounded. It appeared to 
be the general wish that he should be waked. His eyes re- 
maining closed, he was, however, asked how many there 



40 



APPENDIX. 



were in the room ; to which he replied correctly. A knife 
was held before his forehead, and he was requested to name 
it. Reply. "A knife." « How dost thou know ?" « It has 
iron about it." His brother being requested to wake him, 
endeavored to by shaking him, speaking his name aloud, &c. 
but in vain. " Come, George, it is time to wake up," said 
the magnetizer, taking him by the hand. He immediately 
rubbed his eyes and arose from his seat. The trembling of 
his hands still continued, but ceased in a few minutes. Said 
he felt well. 

Second sitting. — Commenced magnetizing about 7 P. M, 
In twelve minutes profound sleep was produced, accompa- 
nied by convulsive motions as before. He went to sleep in 
presence of his class, twenty-five in number. He was asked 
how many there were present ; to which he replied without 
hesitation, "Thirteen." (Wrong.) The great ease with 
which he comprehended the will of the magnetizer at this 
sitting, is remarkable. A single mental request was suffi- 
cient to cause him to take or reject the hand of any one pre- 
sent ; and by -the same means, communication with those 
around him was readily established and broken off. Seve- 
ral articles, as knives, pencils, &c, were presented to dif- 
ferent parts of his head, which he named, generally, cor- 
rectly. At this sitting, and most of the following, he mani- 
fested great uneasiness at the presence of iron. " What is 
it, George ?" (A key being held by his forehead.) "A key." 
At the same time withdrawing his head. After repeatedly 
endeavoring in vain to awake him, his schoolmates retired"; 
when magnetizer left him for a few minutes, to invite the 
superintendents and teachers to witness magnetic sleep. 
Upon the return of the magnetizer, being asked who was 
present, he repeated the names of several of the teachers. 
(Right.) And being asked whether any women were in the 
room, he spoke the names of most of the females present. 
Again he was requested to tell what was held by his head, 
which he did, generally, correctly, and invariably took or 
rejected the hand of any one, at the will of the magnetizer. 
He would also converse, or not, according as he was com- 
manded to, or not, by the thoughts of the magnetizer. 



APPENDIX, 41 

3. A***** requested him rise and walk with him, which 
proposal being mentally opposed by the magnetizer, he could 
not be prevailed upon to comply, till the magnetizer, in ac- 
cordance with the wish of S. A., expressed by a sign, willed 
that he should rise ; when he immediately arose. Mag- 
netizer offered his arm, which was accepted. Magnetizer 
asked him if he perceived a comb before his face ; to which 
he replied in the affirmative. (A comb.) Being requested 
to remember the comb after the sleep ended, he promised to 
do so. Finally, all being perfecly satisfied that he was com- 
pletely subject to the will of the magnetizer, and that he 
alone could awake him, " Come, George," said the magnet- 
izer, " it is time to get up." He immediately rubbed his 
eyes and awoke. Being asked, if he knew what he had 
done, he replied, " No," (hesitatingly.) " Something about 
a comb." He thought he should not remember the comb, 
as he did not see it distinctly. Upon presenting two dissim- 
ilar ones, he immediately selected it. He said he had some 
recollection of a key, and that he knew it to be a key, be- 
cause he " felt a bunch of attraction, a line of attraction, 
and a ring of attraction." 

12 mo. 14th.— Third sitting. — Pulse seventy-nine — sleep 
in nine minutes — lids closed. Magnetizer put the questions, 
and received the answers which follow. 

Is I D in the room ? 

I can't see him. 

Dost thou feel pleasant ? 

Yes. 

How many are present, George ? 

Thirty-eight, — moving his head round as if to count 
them — (right). 

Dost thou count thyself? 

No. 

Dost thou count me ? 

No. 

Dost thou count Jonathan ? 

No. (There were thirty-eight in the room besides the 
three excepted.) 

D* 



42 APPENDIX; 

Dost thou count Samuel ? 

Don't know. 

What lesson art thou to recite this morning ? 

Spelling. (Right.) 

From what book ? 

Philadelphia Expositor. (Right.) 

What smell has this? (Ammonia.) 

Acid. 

What is this? (A shell being presented.) 

Paper. (Paper being near in magnetizer's other hand.) 

What is it, George ? (The paper being removed.) 

A shell. 

Feel any thing? (Being pricked under the nail with a 

pin.) 

Yes. (At the same time manifesting sensation.) 

What is the matter ? 

Pricking me. 

What with? 

A pin. 

Who prickfed thee ? 

j******* g***** # (Right.) 

What is this? (A file being presented.) 

Steel. 

What is this ? (Hare's aerometer.) 

Some copper about it. 

What is this? (Button.) 

Button. 

How many in the room ? 

About seventy. (Being eighty.) 

What time is it ? (Being five minutes after nine.) 

Quarter of nine. 

How dost thou tell ? 

By watch. 

Who has it? 

Moses. (The magnetizer.) 

What time dost thou say it is T 

No — a little past nine. 

Wilt thou wake, George, in just three minutes from now? 

Yes. (He fulfilled his promise to a second,) 



APPENDIX. 43 

N. B. Pulse somewhat increased. 

12 mo. 18th. — Commenced about half past six P. M. 
Sound sleep in four minutes. At this time magnetized 
readily obeyed the will of magnetizer, and generally told 
correctly what was held before him. He manifested much 
uneasiness at the presence of iron, &c, as before. Con- 
vulsive motions about the same as previous sittings. He 
told the number of persons correctly, some of whom had 
come in after he was put asleep. He was requested to 
wake in two and a half minutes. In two and a quarter 
minutes, sleep ended. 

About five minutes after, he was again put to sleep in 
two minutes, by the will alone of the magnetizer, who sat 
at the distance of four feet. Lids fixed, but not closed. He 
shut them at the wish of the magnetizer, accompanied by a 
motion of the hand downwards. He told the number in the 
room correctly, and answered various questions put to him 
by others, when permitted by the magnetizer. Convulsive 
motions entirely ceased. Magnetizer stepped to a distant 
part of the room, and mentally requested magnetized to 
come to him. He complied. Finally, he was requested to 
awake in just ten minutes, which he did to a second. 

Lastly, magnetizer retired to an adjoining room, and 
willed him to sleep in one and a half minutes. After a few 
experiments to be fully satisfied that he was asleep, mag- 
netizer waked him. 

12 mo. 19th. — Fifth sitting. — G. C**** was explaining 
to his teacher the method of solving a question in algebra, 
after which he was to solve two others to finish his lesson. 
He knew nothing of the intention to put him asleep. Mag- 
netizer seated himself in a room at least seventy feet distant, 
between whom and magnetized there were as many as 
three stone and brick walls, besides several partitions. To 
take the nearest route from one to the other, seven doors 
are to be passed through, five of which were shut. The 
process of magnetizing continued about two and a half min- 
utes, when magnetizer went to ascertain the result. He 
found magnetized explaining his sum, but manifesting a fix- 
edness of countenance. After he had gone through the 



44 APPENDIX. 

explanation, which, as his teacher informed, was rather 
singularly accomplished, he commenced upon the questions 
following. G. R***, a teacher, spoke to him, but could 
get no answer. Magnetizer then stepped to an adjoining 
xoom and magnetized about a minute longer. On returning 
lie could perceive no change. Magnetized still sat engaged 
about his lesson. His eyes were open, and he was free 
from convulsive motions. Magnetizer said, " Come, George, 
wake up." No reply or sign of waking. " When art thou 
going to wake up?" "When I get my sums done." 
Magnetized took off his cravat and laid it aside ; being 
asked the reason, he said, " It is warm." Magnetizer feel- 
ing some anxiety at his inability to wake him, rendered him 
some assistance, at the same time telling him to finish his 
lesson as soon as he could, and then to wake. Several at- 
tempts were made to deceive him, that he might get through 
sooner; but one only succeeded, at which time he was 
looking in his book for the answer. As soon as the ques- 
tions were solved, he rubbed his eyes and awoke. Being 
questioned, he said he remembered nothing that had oc- 
curred, not having seen the magnetizer before that moment 
since quarter past three, P. M. We proceeded immediately 
to the table ; but just as we were leaving the room, he in- 
quired for his cravat, not recollecting that he had laid it 
aside. After tea, magnetizer told him he had interrupted 
him some during the afternoon, and wished to know if he 
had finished his lesson. He replied, "I have two more 
sums to do;" entirely forgetting that he had solved them 
during his sleep. 

Sixth sitting. — Sleep produced in half a minute. A bar 
magnet was brought near, when magnetized manifested 
great uneasiness. Magnetizer said, " What is it, George ?" 
"Magnet." "Why dost thou not sit still?" "It hurts." 
" Which pole is towards thee ?" " North pole," (right,) at 
the same time moving his head towards it. "How dost 
thou know?" "It pulls." Upon reversing the poles, he 
instantly started back as if touched by a hot iron. " Which 
pole is it?" "South," (right). "How dost thou know?" 
" It pushes." This experiment was several times repeated* 



APPENDIX. 45 

with the same result. In a word, it was impossible to de- 
ceive him. Whether the " magnetizer" or any other per- 
son held the magnet, he invariably moved his head toward 
the north, and from the south pole, even when it was pre- 
sented at the distance of eight feet. Indeed he showed by 
words and various movements, that he was not at all 
pleased with the experiment. Magnetizer extended his hand 
towards him, to which he moved his head. Being asked 
how it felt, he replied, " It pulls." It seemed to be rather 
agreeable to him than otherwise. Magnetizer then with- 
drew his hand and brought his head near to the forehead of 
the magnetized, at which he manifested the same uneasiness 
as at the south pole of the magnet. The novel thought oc- 
curred to the magnetizer, that perhaps himself might be 
magnetized, negatively, by induction. He therefore conclu- 
ded to form the circuit and know the result. It was formed 
by placing the hand of the magnetizer upon the head of 
the magnetized, and the hand of the magnetized, upon the. 
head of the magnetizer. Just as the connexi 
made, the magnetized sprang as .if he had received an elec 
trie shock, though nothing was felt by magnetizer. I**** 
H******* tr ied the same with the same result. Magneti- 
zer—" What is the matter, George ?" " G\ e shocks." 
The connexion was made bv se 1 i s, (perhaps five,) 
taking hold of hands. Still, the she ere felt. To as- 
certain whether the will of the magnetizer was at all con- 
cerned in the productio t me shocks, he willed that the 
magnetized should feel cold, where the connexion was made. 
But in vain ; the shocks were felt as before. Glass proved 
not to be a non-conductor. On being waked, he had no re- 
collection of what had occurred ; but complained that he 
felt as if he had been receiving severe electric shocks. 

12 mo. 25th. — Seventh sitting. — Magnetizer at least one 
and a half miles distant.— Time, 6 P. M.— Perfect sleep in 
one minute. Magnetizer directed him to shut his eyes ; 
also, to tell one present, J. L. S*****, that he was coming, 
and then proceeded to join the company. At the same time, 
magnetizer whispered something which was not audible. A 
communication being thus established between him and J. 



46 APPENDIX. 

L. S*****, the following questions were put and answers re- 
ceived. 

Where is the magnetizer 1 

Coming. 

Where was he when he put thee to sleep ? 

In a house, and sitting. (Right.) It may be proper here 
to remark, that G. C** # * was informed that he was to be 
magnetized sometime during the evening, but not at what 
hour. Neither did he know whether the magnetizer was 
at the institution at the time or not. 

How dost thou know ? 

I saw him. 

Has he an umbrella ? 

Yes. 

How dost thou know T 

I feel he has his hand on it. 

Canst thou see the streets, or the lamps in the streets ? 

No. 

Canst thou see the bridge T 

No ; it is dark. 

In what direction is he ? (Magnetized placed his hand 
upon his forehead, and then moved it towards the place at 
which he said the magnetizer was.) 

How dost thou know he is in that direction ? 

I feel him pull. (At the same time manifesting uneasi- 
ness at what he called the pulling of the magnetizer. The 
last two questions wero often repeated, and the same an- 
swers as often received.) 

Shall I stop the pulling ? 

Thou canst not stop it ; no one can stop it. 

Is he walking, or running ? 

Running, now. (Magnetizer does not now recollect 
whether he ran any or not.) 

How many are there in the room, and who are they ? 

Four. J. L. S*****, J. C****, B. B*****, and myself. 
(Two entered while he was asleep.) 

Magnetized was shocked, as at the last sitting. When 
magnetizer had approached about one mile, he wished him 
to speak to J. L. S***** and C. W. J******, supposing them 



APPENDIX. 



47 



both to be present. About the same time, he took J. L. 
g#**** by t h e h an d, and with the other seemed to feel for 
some one. Being asked by J. L. S*****, what he wished, 
he replied, "C****** J******." At the same time, mag. 
netizer wished him to speak to none but the two individuals 
just mentioned, when he ceased to answer the questions of 
j a c****, his brother, with whom he had been conversing, 
without any directions from the magnetizer. During the 
early part of his sleeping, he made various gestures, sup- 
posed to indicate a wish to hurry the magnetizer, saying at 
the same time, " Faster 1 faster !" 

At thirty -five minutes past six o'clock, magnetizer arrived, 
and found magnetized asleep, in company with J. G**** and 
J, L. S*****. Of his own accord, on the entrance of the 
magnetizer, he put out his hand, smiled, and seemed glad to 
see his friend. After a few moments in conversation, the 
sleep of the magnetized was terminated by the will of the 
magnetizer. 



Note 13. 

To Messrs. A. V. and C. C. Potter, to whom I am indebted 
for many opportunities of seeing and trying interesting ex- 
periments, I take this occasion to express my thanks. The 
former gentleman, in addition to all other obligations, has 
furnished me the following account of his experience as a 
magnetizer. It is very observable, to one who has had a 
chance to become acquainted with the statements of foreign 
writers, that there is a striking similarity of conclusion be- 
tween them and our own magnetizers, in cases where it was 
almost impossible for the latter to obtain the notions of the 
former. This is certainly a priori proof of the strongest 
kind in favor of the reality of magnetism, and of the uni- 
versality of its principles ; and it should be an inducement 
to such as have leisure, to investigate the subject until those 
principles arc as clearly demonstrable, as those of electric- 



48 



APPENDIX, 



jty. I would remark that Mr. P. differs from some others 
in regard to the intuitive knowledge of time which is claimed 
as one of the faculties of somnambulists. He has even now 
a patient who wakes every morning precisely at the hour 
he tells her to the evening previous ; a fact which I learned 
from Captain James Brattell, in whose family she now re- 
sides. This young lady, whose case is a very peculiar 
one, cannot see while in the magnetic state. Her waking 
up at the hour indicated by her magnetizer, is a strong ob- 
jection to his own conclusion, which is, that somnambulists 
borrow their notions of time from the thoughts of others, or 
see it on the nearest watch or other timepiece. This case, 
however, has occurred since the article below was written. 

The first good subject I ever obtained, was a married 
lady, of about twenty-three. At the fifth sitting, of about 
forty minutes each, she became sound asleep. I asked her, 
after a few questions in regard to her feelings, whether she 
could see any thing out of the room where she was sitting. 
She replied that she could. I asked her the time, by the 
clock in the other room. She said, tiventy-two minutes past 
eight ; upon looking, I found it to be correct to a minute. I 
knew that she had never been in my shop, w T here men only 
had been employed. I asked her how it appeared. She 
gave a correct account of its appearance. I then asked her 
if there was any one in at the time. She said there were 
three. I supposed that there was no one there ; it being 
evening, and at a time when it was generally closed. I 
went directly thither, and to my astonishment I found three of 
my apprentices at work. On my return, I took an out of 
the way road, and sat down upon a drag for a few moments, 
to see if she would observe it. When I returned, she told 
me exactly where I had been, what way I returned, and ob- 
served, that the short time I sat upon that drag could not 
have rested me. 

I asked her to tell the number of persons in the room di- 
rectly over where we sat, it being occupied by another 
family. She answered, there are seven; Mr. Day, his 
wife and two children, a small girl who lives with them, 



APPENDIX. 49 

and two ladies that I do not recollect to have seen before* 
I sent up the maid directly to ascertain the fact. While 
she was gone, I asked the patient what she said, and to whom 
she spoke. She replied, that she spoke to Mr. Day, and 
asked him what time in the evening it was ; and no one but 
him made reply. 

The girl asked the time of night, as a pretext to ascer- 
tain the number in the room. She stated the number pre- 
cisely the same as my subject. There were two ladies 
there whom she did not know. The maid was not in the room 
when my subject told the number in the chamber, nor did 
she know the reason of my sending her on such an errand. 

I took a number of small things from the shelf, and en- 
closed them perfectly tight in my hand, and she told 
what they were. I took my watch and covered it as closely 
as possible in my handkerchief; she mentioned the time to 
a minute. I took a piece of blank paper, and marked one 
or two capital letters with a lead pencil, and placed them 
between the leaves in the middle of a book. She had no 
difficulty in telling what they were. She would frequently 
tell the time of day by a dozen watches that were in the 
room, without their being taken from the fob. 

I have the most indisputable proof of their seeing to a 
great distance, although they frequently fail in experiments 
of this kind. I find a great difference in the vivacity of sub- 
jects, owing partly, I think, to their vanity and desire to an- 
swer every thing that is asked them, and partly to their ina- 
ability at times to distinguish small objects. They some- 
times appear to draw largely from their imaginations and 
preconceived opinions. They are apt to get into this habit 
after being magnetized a great number of times. I consider 
the information obtained from new subjects to be much the 
most correct. 

Two gentlemen came to see one of my subjects one eve- 
ning ; they had passed Newport that afternoon, and had ob- 
served some things to test her clairvoyance. They sent her 
into a room of a house there, to which she and myself were 
total strangers, where she found an old gentleman asleep in 
his chair. They said it could not be otherwise than correct, 



50 APPENDIX. 

as it was a fixed habit for the occupant of the house to sleep 
at that time in the evening, in his chair. 

She gave a minute description of every house and room 
which they directed her to. On asking her the time of 
night by the clock at Newport, she said that the clock did 
n<5 go, and both hands hung directly down. The gentle- 
men were astonished at its correctness, as they saw them 
taking down the clock when they passed through in the 
afternoon, and remarked that it would be a perfect test of 
her clairvoyance. Newport is thirty miles distant, and a 
place where my subject had never been. I do not mention 
this as an isolated fact, but as one that will not admit of 
contradiction, not only from the nature of the proof, but the 
character of the witnesses ; they being the Honorable Judge 
Durfee and Judge Staples, both of our Supreme Court, and 
Horace Manchester, Esq, attorney, of this city. 

I have had gentlemen from Boston, Salem, Newport, 
Taunton, New-Bedford, New-York, and other places, who 
have witnessed experiments of seeing to a great distance ; 
and in such cases I have directed my subject to go (as we 
term it) to their respective places of abode, and have gene- 
rally enforced the most perfect conviction. 

I sent a subject to New-York that was never in the city. 
She gave a most correct description of Trinity church, the 
monuments in the enclosure, their situation, and the whole 
of its internal structure. I then sent her into a broker's 
office in Wall-street (Mr. Vernon's). He informs me that 
the description is correct. She said she saw nothing except 
a few books and some money. She could not see any 
goods, although I called it a store. Mr. Vernon was an en- 
tire stranger to myself, as well as to the somnambulist. 

A good clairvoyant will never fail to tell the denomina- 
tion of a bill, the superscription on a letter, or any sentence 
distinctly written, even if it is folded so as to bring the writing 
on the inside. I have lately been trying some very inter- 
esting experiments, in connexion with two or three gentle- 
men, upon the faculty of clairvoyance, which I should not 
feel justified in laying before the public in their present un- 
finished state. 



APPENDIX. 51 



I have found that all my clairvoyants can tell the time ; 
but upon asking them how they tell, they will say they see 
some neighboring clock ; such as that in their own house, 
or the nearest church. I said to a patient of mine one eve- 
ning. Can you tell what time it is ? She said, No ; our clock 
do n't go. Upon looking, I found the clock had been stopped 
fifteen minutes, two hours after she had been put into 
the magnetic sleep. I have told them to wake by a pre- 
scribed time, and have found them very accurate. At other 
times, they would wake before half the period had elapsed. 

There are some subjects, however, that are very exact in 
their time of waking, very rarely varying more than six 
seconds from the prescribed time. I have told others to wake 
in four minutes, and in four minutes more to go to sleep 
again ; they would wake in three minutes, or less, and go 
to sleep again in the same time, I have told others to wake 
in four minutes by a certain clock, or watch, and go to sleep 
in the same time ; they would wake at the exact time, and 
go to sleep one minute, or one minute and a half too soon. 
So that I am convinced, not only from the artificial divisions 
of time, but from a great number of experiments, that they 
either see some time-piece, or guess at its duration. 



Note 14. 

SOMNAMBULISM. 

No one who reads medical works is ignorant of the fre- 
quent occurrence of natural somnambulism. An hundred 
cases could undoubtedly be quoted from the best authorities. 
A remarkable and well authenticated one recently appeared 
in the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal. I do not know 
whether to class the following relation, which I find in a 
very old translation of Pliny's Natural History, with facts 
or with fictions. Does not its resemblance to what is known 
to take place in induced somnambulism, authorize us to con- 
sider it as having so?ne foundation in truth ? 



52 APPENDIX. 

" We read in Chronicles, that the ghost of Hermotimus 
Clazomenius was accustomed to abandon his body for a 
time, and wandering up and down in far countries, used to 
bring home news from remote places, of such things as 
could not possibly be known, unless it had -been present 
there ; and all the while his body lay, as it were, half dead 
in a trance. This practice it continued so long, that at last 
the Cantharidse, who were his mortal enemies, took his body 
and burnt it to ashes ; and by that means disappointed his 
poor soul when it came back again, of that sheath, as it 
were, or case, where she meant to bestow herself." — Pliny, 
book 7, chap. 52. 

There is some similarity between the above relation, and 
the following, which is extracted from Watson's u Annals 
of Philadelphia," page 235, edition of 1830. 

The good people of Caledonia have so long and exclu- 
sively engrossed the faculty of second sight, that it may 
justly surprise many to learn that we also have been favored 
with at least one case as well attested as their own. I re- 
fer to the instance of Eli Yarnali, of Frankford. Whatever 
were his first peculiarities, he in time lost them. He fell 
into intemperate habits, became a wanderer, and died in 
Virginia, a young man. He was born in Bucks county, 
and with his family, emigrated to the neighborhood of Pitts- 
burg. There, when a child seven years old, he suddenly 
burst into a fit of laughter in the house, saying he saw his 
father (then at a distance) running down the mountain side, 
trying to catch a jug of whiskey which he had let fall. He 
saw him overtake it. When the father came home, he 
confirmed the whole story, to the great surprise of all. 
The boy after this excited much wonder and talk in the 
neighborhood. Two or three years after this, the family 
was visited by Robert Verree, a public Friend, with other 
visiting Friends from Bucks county. I have heard in a 
very direct manner, from those who heard Verree's narra- 
tive, that he, to try the lad, asked him various questions 
about circumstances then occurring at his own house, in 
Bucks county ; all of which he ascertained to have been 



APPENDIX. 



53 



really so at that precise time ! Some of the things men- 
tioned were these, viz.: "I see your house is made partly 
of logs and partly of stone; before the house is a pond which 
is now let out ; in the porch sits a woman, and a man with 
grey hairs ; in the house are several men," &c. 

When Verree returned home, he ascertained that his 
mill-pond before his house had been just let out, to catch 
muskrats ; that the man in the porch was his wife's brother, 
Jonathan; that the men in his house were the mowers, 
who had all come in because of a shower of rain. In short, 
he said every iota was exactly realized. 

The habit of the boy, when he sought for such facts, 
was, to sit down, and hold his head downwards, his eyes 
often shut ; and after some waiting, declared what he saw 
in his visions. He has been found abroad in the fields, sit- 
ting on a stump and crying ; on being asked the reason, he 
said he saw great destruction of human life by men in mu- 
tual combat. His descriptions answered exactly to sea- 
fights and army battles, although he had never seen the 
sea, nor ships, nor cannon ; all of which he fully described 
as an actual looker-on. Some of the Friends who saw 
him, became anxious for his future welfare, and deeming 
him possessed of a peculiar gift and a good spirit, desired 
to have the bringing of him up. He was therefore com- 
mitted to the mastery of Nathan Harper, engaged in the 
business of tanning, in Frankford. There he excited con- 
siderable conversation ; and so many came to visit him as 
to be troublesome to his master, who did what he could to 
discourage the calls. Questions, on his part, were there- 
fore shunned as much as he could. He lost his faculty by 
degrees, and fell into loose company, which of itself pre- 
vented serious people from having any further wish to 
interrogate him. 

To instance the kind of inquiries which were usually 
presented to him, it may be stated, that wives who had 
missed their husbands long, supposed by shipwreck for in- 
stance, would go to him and inquire. He would tell them, 
it is said, of some still alive, what they were about, &c. 
Another case was, a man, for banter, went to him to inquire 



E* 



® 4 APPENDIX. 

who stole his pocket-book ; and he was answered, no one • 
but you stole one out of a man's pocket when at the vendue! 
— and it was so. 

His mother would not allow him " to divine for money," 
lest he should thereby lose the gift, which she deemed heav- 
en-derived. 

These are strange things. I give these facts as I heard 
them. 

The above were cases of natural somnambulism ; and it 
is to be observed, that such subjects are frequently in con- 
dition to talk with any who address them. This was the 
case with the Springfield somnambulist, who was recently 
thrown into induced somnambulism by a gentleman of this 
town, as will be seen by his letter published in this appen- 
dix. It is laid down by some writers on magnetism, that 
the diseases which produce the one, may be cured by the 
other. Where somnambulism is induced by the magnetic 
process, the magnetizer gains such a mastery over the pa- 
tient, as to turp his clairvoyance to a useful purpose ; which 
is, to look into the nature of the disease which made him 
naturally subject to this crisis, and to point out its proper 
remedy. Not only so, but magnetism alone, without other 
aid, restores such persons to health, and then generally 
ceases to act upon them. 

In one of the numbers of The Magnetizer, a series of 
papers published in the Journal by a friend of mine, the 
following description of a magnetic sitting may be found. 
It is designed to convey to the imagination of the reader 
who has never seen any thing of the kind, a correct con- 
ception of the real power exerted, and of the feelings excited 
by its contemplation. 

" I confess that I am sometimes astonished at my own 
indifference to the singular phenomena exhibited by my 



* The same has been done in the case of the Uxbridge somnambu- 
list. She was found, as I am told by Dr. Parsons, to be exceeding 
susceptible to the action of magnetism. 



APPENDIX. 85 

friend, while he is in the magnetic sleep. He is this eve- 
ning sitting beside me in his arm chair, while I am at the 
desk penning these observations. He has been asleep about 
an hour. No one is present but myself. He is immovable 
—in his deep and placid serenity. His breath is scarcely 
heard ; the pattering of the rain-drops against the casement, 
comes with thrilling distinctness of sound to break the still- 
ness of the room ; and now and then, the lightning which 
leaps from the riven cloud sends forth its rolling thunder in 
the distance. But these cannot arouse him from his slum- 
ber. There is on his countenance that god-like tranquillity, 
which the ancient artists strove to express in the representa- 
tions of their fabled deities. His eyes are closed ; he feels 
not mortal touch; the surgeon might sever his several 
joints, and the exquisite nerves of feeling shall not convey 
the intimation to the brain. There is no restless movement, 
no nervous irritation, as in ordinary repose. 

" In vain has Carlos, who has just entered, called him by 
his name. He answers not. How shall he hear the voice 
of friendship, who hears not the voice of thunder ? His 
ears are sealed as with seven seals. The mysterious will 
hath closed the avenues of intelligence, in the mortal body. 
But from this dreary death of sensation, how quickly is he 
roused ! By a simple volition, I cause him to see — to hear 
— to recognise every thing about him. I can send him 
forth instantly through the thick darkness of night into dis- 
tant lands, and cause him to bring us tidings of our absent 
friends. His spirit seems to delight in this activity ; his in- 
tellectual countenance brightens up with various emotions. 
He glides along the surface of the earth and ocean, as rapid 
as the lambent borealis ; and ever and anon as different 
scenes arrest his attention, he bursts out into involuntary 
exclamations of pleasure or surprise, of joy or sorrow. The 
smile that tells of some ludicrous sight, is occasionally seen 
to play over his features. Anon, the hot tears course down 
his cheek. Powerful feeling is in every lineament. He is 
weeping over a death-bed scene which he accidentally 
witnesses in a distant city ; and he cries aloud with the gene- 
rous fervor of excited sympathy, " He is gone ! poor man ! 



56 APPENDIX. 

She has no protection for her orphan children — but God f ' 
" Instantly, by a power which is more mysterious to my- 
self, than I think it seems to others, I replunge him into the 
profoundest sleep ; I sprinkle the waters of Lethe over his 
spirit. His muscles lose their tension ; his limbs, their 
elasticity ; his senses forget their office ; the placid serenity 
of slumber settles upon his features, and he becomes as void 
of sensation, of motion, of volition, as the beautiful creations 
of Canova, or the stony victims of Medusa." 

It is sometimes necessary to send a somnambulist in spirit 
to examine the sick. This has been practised to some ex- 
tent here ; and it will be practised much when magnetism 
becomes more extensively appreciated in this country. 
Great caution should be used in such cases to test the clair- 
voyance ; and it seems proper to give some hints to those 
who seek direct evidence of this power from somnambulists. 
1st. If you send them away, give them time enough to look 
round after you have assured yourself that there is no mis- 
take in the house to which you send them. 2d. If you are 
in communication, keep yourself perfectly free from excite- 
ment, and attend to what the somnambulist says. 3d. Ob- 
serve simplicity of conduct ; not wearying the somnambulist 
by asking questions which manifest skepticism or an inten- 
tion to embarrass him. 4th. Be careful, as far as possible, 
not to ask unimportant questions ; for the somnambulist, if 
properly trained, does not view your interrogatories as 
intended to test his clairvoyance, but to obtain information 
of things as they are. Apollo himself, in the palmy tran- 
quillity of his soul, took it in high dudgeon, says Plutarch, 
to be interrogated about so many trifles. Besides, most 
somnambulists imagine you to be present with them, wher- 
ever they go, and think you can see as well as they can. 
It therefore requires caution and skill, not only to obtain 
information from them, but also to direct their attention to 
the proper objects.* 

* Colonel Stone has given some judicious observations on this 
head, in his " Letter to Dr. Brigham." 



APFENDIX. 57 

M. le Marquis de Puysegur says, in his work entitled 
* Recherches Physiologiques sur 1'Homme," page 423, there 
are somnambulists whose active energy makes them almost 
spontaneously perceive all that can be useful and salutary 
to themselves. There are also some who are inert and in- 
dolent, whose intuitive faculties are not manifested unless 
their developement is aided. A somnambulist may be 
compared to a person having very good eyes, who is unex- 
pectedly placed upon an eminence rising from a vast plain. 
His vision would sweep over a great extent, without distin- 
guishing any thing. He would wonder at all things, without 
remarking any ; and the most beautiful situations, the most 
interesting objects, would often be the very ones to which 
he would pay no attention. It is exactly so with many 
somnambulists. If you do not arrest and fix their attention 
upon that which ought particularly to interest them, they 
will often observe nothing in the vast and indefinite domain 
of their perception. 



Note 15. 

TRAVELLING SOMNAMBULISTS. 

The somnambulist always appears to have a perfect 
knowledge of what the magnetizer is doing. If he occa- 
sionally loses trace of him, it is because some other person 
is in communication, and absorbs his whole attention. But 
the magnetizer generally keeps his control over his patient, 
even though at a distance from him ; that is, he can cause 
him to sink into a state of insensibility ; he can make him 
answer the question of one person, and return no answer to 
the question of another ; can make him lose the power of 
seeing any one present ; can make him call for any partic- 
ular article of food ; can wake him suddenly, &c. all by 
the mere power of the will. It sometimes happens that 
such experiments fail ; but it is evident that the patient 



58 APPENDIX. 

commonly has the faculty of divining the will of his mag. 
netizer. He seems to be drawn towards him by an intense 
impulse. He can almost always tell where he is. I have 
known one somnambulist, who, when left by the physician 
that magnetized her, would voluntarily trace him through 
all his professional calls, and give a pretty correct account 
of them to the persons left in communication with her. At 
the same time she would mention how many and what de- 
scription of persons were in the several rooms of his patients. 

I could never discover an architectural anomaly in the 
descriptions given by somnambulists of the houses to which 
they are sent. It is not proper, however, to conclude that 
they never commit such an error, though I have made many 
experiments of the kind. I will explain my meaning. 

Somnambulists frequently get into the wrong house ; and 
frequently give a wrong description when they get into the 
right house ; and it requires some tact to draw from them 
a correction of the errors into which they fall at the first 
sight, as well # as to discover the cause of their being led 
into the commission of such errors. 

But when they get into a house, or imagine they have 
got into one, which neither they nor any present have ever 
been into, they will give such a description as will be con- 
gruent in itself, whether it be true or false, in respect to the 
house supposed to be visited. Thus, if the somnambulist 
describes the fire-place in the parlor as being on the north 
side, and a door as being on the right of the fire-place lead- 
ing into the room back of the parlor, he will, when carried 
into that back room, make the fire-place there correspond 
with the position of the chimney previously indicated in the 
description of the first room. As soon as I took notice of 
this congruency, I varied the experiments very much to as- 
certain whether it was always so. After examining one 
room in a house, in relation to the position of the windows 
and the grates, I proceeded to the second or third story in 
one of the back rooms, to get a description of them ; then down 
into the yard to get a description of the back part of the 
house ; then into the front yard to look into the parlor win- 
dow and describe the situation of things from this new point 



APPENDIX. 59 

of view ; then to one side of the house, to look in at a win- 
dow into a room in which we have not yet been ; then into 
a room in the second story directly over the room back of 
the parlor, and the fire-place is found to be on the south side, 
exactly corresponding with the rest of the description. This 
experiment has been tried by me when I was not in commu- 
nication with the somnambulists, but conducted it through a 
person who was in communication with them, in respect to 
buildings which neither of us had ever seen. 

But it may be said, the somnambulist having a good idea 
of the manner in which houses are generally built, could not 
fail in a matter of that kind, and if he merely imagines him- 
self to be in a distant house, he would not be so obscure 
in his imaginary perceptions as to make such an archi- 
tectural error ; for the imagination must grasp the whole ob- 
ject at once in all its complexity. Besides, there is also 
reason to believe that the somnambulist borrows the whole 
description from the model in the mind of the person in com- 
munication with him. 

To all this it may be replied, that innumerable examples 
are given, some in this book, of the power not only of tran- 
sition, but also of transition and clairvoyance united, which 
were properly verified. And in the next place, these trials 
were, some of them, made when the person in communica- 
tion had no particular knowledge of architecture, and no 
intimation of the design of the experiment. Hence we must 
adopt the obvious explanation. 

If you wish to carry a somnambulist to your own house 
or to the house of a friend, it is not necessary for you to 
trace out the path for him to travel ; at least I have found 
it so in all trials I have made, and they are many. Just 
take the hand of the somnambulist, observing first to request 
to be put in communication with him. You must remember, 
by the way, that it requires much circumspection on your 
part in making the proper advances, especially if the som- 
nambulist is a woman, and you are a stranger. After 
being put in communication, take his hand, and ask him if 
he will go with you to your house ; (you need not tell him 
where or in what direction it is ;) and if he says he does 



60 APPENDIX. 

not know the way, tell him you will go with him. If he 
consents to go with you, carry your mind home, and he 
will soon be there with you. Bid him let you know when 
he arrives. He will enter the house, and will surprise you 
by the correct description which he will give you of it. At 
the same time, if you have ordered some one of your family 
to make an arrangement of the furniture in a particular 
room without letting you know what the arrangement is, 
you will probably discover that he does not derive his ideas 
from your own mind. You may, however, influence his 
mind and mislead him. He will sometimes make wonderful 
mistakes in some things, while he is wonderfully correct in 
others. He who is acquainted with the mode of proceeding, 
will frequently discover the cause of their mistakes, by at- 
tending closely to their motions. 

I have known several cases analogous to this. You send 
a somnambulist to examine the house of a friend. He de- 
scribes the house correctly, and your friend correctly. He 
says your friend is sitting at his desk in his study. You go 
off satisfied thaf all is right ; but on writing an account, and 
receiving an answer from your friend, you are astonished 
to learn that he was not at home on the day in question. 
How did Somnambulus contrive to give such a description 
of him, if he did not see him ? I am afraid to offer a theory 
which is suggested to my mind, until further investigation 
has been made. In the mean time I offer the following let- 
ters as relating instances of the kind to which I refer. 

FROM DOCTOR HARTSHORN. 

Providence, Sept. 1, 1837. 

. Dear Sir — In compliance with your request, I cheerfully 
submit to you an account of an experiment in animal mag- 
netism, made a few evenings since by Mr. William Grant, 
at his father's residence, in High-street. The person mag- 
netized was a young lady, a relative of the family. Similar 
experiments had often been made by him, and it was by 
particular request that he consented to gratify the curiosity 
of a few individuals on this occasion. There were present, 



APPENDIX. 61 

Bishop Brownell, of Connecticut, Dr. Brownell, of this city, 
Major Lomax, of the U. S. Army, Mr. E. Dyer, Jr., Mr. 
Potter, and myself. Mr. Grant placed himself in front of 
his patient, and fixing his eyes steadily upon her, she soon 
gave evidence of being in the magnetic sleep. As it seemed 
to us among the most interesting and extraordinary facts, 
in connexion with this subject, that the person magnetized 
could visit mentally, and describe distant places and objects, 
we concluded to test her powers in that way. The mag- 
netizer was accordingly requested to direct her to Newport. 
She soon signified her arrival, and was directed from the 
landing through the town to the residence of Major Lomax. 
Passing through the front door into the entry, and then into 
one of the side rooms, she gave such a description of the 
interior, the furniture, and family, as to satisfy all present 
that she was not exercising the Yankee prerogative of 
guessing. Major Lomax had previously intimated to me, 
that if she would hit upon and describe a particular article 
of furniture in his house, it would serve, as forcibly as any 
thing could, to remove his doubts, inasmuch as the article 
in question was rare, probably what she had never seen. 
She was now directed to return to the entry, and enter the 
room on the opposite side. As soon as she had entered the 
room, she declared it to be a parlor, and immediately her 
attention was arrested by an object which she said was a 
musical instrument. She was told to play upon it ; but she 
said she could not, because it was covered. She was asked 
what the covering was, and answered it was green baize. 
She now went through the motions of untying the covering, 
lifting it from the instrument, and laying it aside. She was 
now told by Mr. Grant, who did not know what the instru- 
ment was, and who alone was in communication with her, 
to strike the keys ; but she declared there were no keys. 
She now drew her hand rapidly across, as if to vibrate the 
strings of an instrument, at the same time turning her ear, 
and listening with apparent surprise and pleasure. She 
next took hold with her thumb and finger, and motioned as 
if to spring the chords. She was asked what the instrument 
w T as, and answered that she could not tell ; that she had 
F 



62 APPENDIX. 

never seen any thing like it before. To the question if it 
were a guitar, she answered that it was not ; that she had 
seen a guitar ; that this was not like one ; that it had many- 
more strings, and was much larger. This description Ma- 
jor Lomax assured the company corresponded with the 
fact. There was in the parlor a harp of large size, and it 
had a covering of green baize cloth. Upon subsequent in- 
quiry, it was ascertained that the harp had been on that 
evening removed from the front parlor to the one immedi- 
ately in the rear, communicating with the first, however, by 
means of a door.* The gentlemen were assured that the 
young lady had never been in Newport, and she was also 
a stranger to them. 

It should be remarked, in conclusion, that this statement 
has been submitted to Major Lomax, and has his concur- 
rence. 

Yours, very respectfully,, 

ISAAC HARTSHORN. 
Mr. T. C. Hartshorn. 



FROM REV. FREDERICK A. FARLEY. 

Tuesday Morning, Oct. 3d. 

My dear Sir — In reply to your note of yesterday, I am 
happy to give you any statement of facts in my power; nor 
can I have the least objection to the use of my name in 
connexion therewith, since I mean that it shall be a state- 
ment of facts, and neither more nor less. 

Somewhere about two months since, I asked Miss Brack- 
ets (the blind lady,) in an interview at my own house, she 
being in the state of magnetic somnambulism, to go with 
me to Boston. I guided her to the house of a brother-in- 
law, and she described with remarkable accuracy much of 



* It is asserted by all clairvoyants, that walls always seem to be 
transparent. When told to pass from one room to another through 
the partition or a fastened door, they appear to find no difficulty in 
doing it. — Trans, 



APPENDIX. 63 

the arrangement of the house, the furniture of the drawing- 
rooms, &c. As I understand you in your present inquiries 
to seek illustrations "of the uncertainty which attends the 
relations of somnambulists when they are at a distance in 
spirit, and of the singular errors and illusions to which they 
are liable," I confine myself to this point. Miss B. said 
there was a gentleman in the front parlor, standing near 
the window, reading a letter ; and upon requesting her to 
describe him, she described the occupant of the house as 
accurately as I should have done to any inquirer. She 
said, indeed, that his hair was " very thin," when I should 
have said he was " bald on the top of the head ;" and that 
he wore spectacles which had " not silver bows," when I 
should have said they had " gold" bows. Upon seeking to 
know how far these statements corresponded with the facts, 
it was found that the occupant of the house was not at 
home at that hour, (half past six o'clock, P. M.) not having 
been at home between half past three o'clock and eight 
o'clock. 

Again, she said that a man was spreading a cloth on the 
flour in the back parlor ; and a little black boy came in, 
and they talked together. It was indeed about the hour 
when the male domestic of the family might have been pre- 
paring for the evening meal ; but it was found that nobody 
interrupted him. 

Upon leaving the house, she crossed the street to inspect 
the church on Church Green. While apparently engaged 
in examining its exterior, she of a sudden drew herself up 
with an air of great dignity, saying, " I '11 thank you to 
mind your own business," or words to that effect. " What 
now?" I asked. She replied, "That boy is troubling me !" 
I (as if I saw him,) commanded him to desist. " There, he 
is laughing at you," said she. " Well, then I '11 kick him," 
I rejoined, accompanying the words with a suitable move- 
ment of the foot. " Ah, you 've made him cry, now," she 
replied. 

After this, upon returning through the streets, she com- 
plained constantly of being jostled by the crowd ; although, 



64 APPENDIX. 

as I afterwards learned, there was nothing to cause any 
unusual crowd at that time. 

In this interview, Miss B. exhibited the faculty of clair- 
voyance, in my house, with perfect accuracy. I do not 
remember a single error in regard to the things around her 
in several distinct rooms. And, as I before hinted, the 
external appearance of the house at Boston, its entry or 
hall, both drawing-rooms, the china closet, and many arti- 
cles of furniture, both what they were, and where placed, 
she also described as well. 

Very truly yours, 

FREDERICK A. FARLEY. 



FROM DOCTOR JOHN FLINT. 

Boston* October 1st, 1837. 

Dear Sir — I have been so much engaged since my re- 
turn from Providence, that I have not until now found leis- 
ure to comply with your request ; and even now I fear I 
shall be able to give you but a very succinct account of the 
state of things on my return to Boston. In your note of 
the 28th September, you wish to know if Miss Brackett was 
correct in relation to the fire in Pearl-street. You will 
perhaps recollect that she did not say there was a fire ; but 
after having visited my house, on going into the street, she 
made this remark : " What is the cause of so many people's 
running?" and then observed, "There is a lamp raised 
upon a pole." And on requesting her to follow them, she 
soon said she was in Pearl-street, but that the people were 
returning. There was no alarm of fire on that evening ; 
neither could I ascertain that there was any disturbance in 
the streets for several days. Finally, however, a friend, 
Mr. E., was passing the evening at my house, and in con- 
versation incidentally remarked, that there was a disturb- 
ance at a neighboring house a few evenings before, and 
that the watchman sprung his rattle ; consequently many 
people were collected in the street. Upon making partic- 
ular inquiries respecting the evening, I ascertained, for a 



APPENDIX. 65 

certainty, that it was on the evening, and at the very time, 
we were in communication with Miss Brackett. That a 
lamp was taken from the engine house — it being next door 
to the watch house — on the alarm being given by the watch, 
I think very probable. The fact, however, is not known. 
Miss B., you may remember, would not give any account of 
my parlors, but answered all questions by saying, " You can 
see as well as I can." Neither was I much more success- 
ful on visiting the office ; for she dismissed that with two or 
three remarks, such as, "You are not very neat" — "It 
looks nearly as bad as Dr. Capron's ;" which, sub rosa, 
was satisfactory evidence to my mind that she must have 
seen it. I then prevailed upon her to step into the kitchen; 
and upon inquiring if any one was there, she answered that 
there was a girl about twenty-five years of age, dressed in 
a small figured pink calico dress, and that she was mixing 
bread or cake, and that no one was with her. Immediately 
upon my return, I inquired of the girl whether she mixed 
any bread or cake on Tuesday evening, and she gave a 
decided negative answer; but said she mixed bread on 
Monday evening. I then left her, and concluded that Miss 
B. must have been mistaken. The girl soon followed me 
into the parlor, with eyes as large as tolerably sized tea- 
cups, and exclaimed, "Why, yes sir, I did bring some 
dough from the cellar into the kitchen, and worked it over, 
and put it into the closet." Upon asking her what time in 
the evening, she said, between half past nine and ten o'clock; 
which corresponds with the time when Miss B. was on her 
visit to Boston. 

With regard to her giving you cistern water* to drink, 
from a tin wash-bowl, and her remarks concerning the dog, 



* In order to obtain a more particular description of things, I said 
to Miss B., Dr. Flint and myself being both in communication with 
her, " Let us sit down here, in the parlor. I wish you would have 
the goodness to ask the girl to bring me some water." Miss B. im- 
mediately gliding down into the kitchen, made the request ; but after 
waiting for a reply, she added, " I shall have to do it myself, for she 
will not answer me." She returned, and with her fingers arranged 



66 APPENDIX. 

I was fully satisfied of the correctness of her statements then, 
and have found no cause to alter my opinion since my re- 
turn. You will recollect, upon leaving my house, I took 

her to visit the house of a sister of mine, Mrs. G , and 

upon going, as I supposed, into the parlor, she evidently took 
another door leading from the same entry, and went into 
Mrs. G.'s chamber. For, after giving her a reasonable 
time to look around, she says, " If you will get up, I will 
pin your dress for you. Your brother is in the other room, 
and wishes to see you." She likewise remarked, that there 
was a child in the bed with her, (Mrs. G.) about eighteen 
months old. Mrs. G. was in bed at that time, and her lit- 
tle girl about four years old, with her. I would remark, 
that Miss B. was correct with respect to the color of Mrs. 
G.'s hair. 



as if she were holding" a dish, said, " Here it is; the girl would not 
answer me." I drank. She took the vessel, and carrying it to the 
place from whence she took it, she exclaimed, " There, I have given 
Mr. Hartshorn water out of the wrong pump ! this is the good wa- 
ter. I gave him the hand-basin to drink from !" Dr. Flint inquired 
where she got it, and she described the cistern pump; and said she 
found the basin hanging up by the side of it. " But," said she, " the 
other pump has good water in it, for I drew some and tasted it, I 
hope you will excuse me, sir." 

Dr. Flint, several of whose friends from Boston were present, as- 
sured me, as he has in this letter, that the description of the relative 
position of the pumps, &c, was accurate. 

It may as well be added in this place, that it was necessary for each 
of us to have hold of the young lady's hand, or to touch her person, 
otherwise the communication is entirely destroyed. Once when I 
wished Dr. Flint to converse with her alone, I withdrew my hand 
from hers, saying, before releasing it, " I will return directly." " I 
wonder he should go off so," said Miss B. During the time the two 
were in conversation, I retained my seat ; and on taking her hand 
again, she asked me where I had been, observing, " I wonder you 
could leave me in the house of a stranger." 

But when a somnambulist is not sent abroad, it is not by any 
means necessary to retain the hand. You may be in communica- 
tion, though at any part of the room. Sometimes he is told to con- 
verse with all who are present. Then he hears every thing ad- 
dressed directly to him, but not the conversation of others. [See 
Note 11, part 1.] 



APPENDIX. 67 

nt 
If 



I fear I have not given you a sufficiently minute account 
of the matter, but want of time must be my excuse. If 
there are any particulars upon which you would like a more 
detailed account, I shall be happy to furnish them. 

I am, Sir, very respectfully, 

Your friend and servant, 

„ m JOHN FLINT 

Mr. Thomas C. Hartshorn. 



Note 16. 

In note fourth of part first, I detailed the experiment of 

Mr - j of Troy, in New-York ; and as no reply had 

been received, I promised to make known the result in this 
part. As the whole has been laid before the public in the 
"Letter of Colonel Stone to Dr. Brigham," I will merely 
add that Mr. Isaac Thurber has received a letter from the 
gentleman in question, which confirms the truth of Colonel 
Stone's statement. Miss B. read the sealed packet in the 
following manner. 

Ab other than the eye of Omnipotence can read this in 
this envelopement. **** ** 1837. 

The true reading was, 

No other than the eye of Omnipotence can read this sen- 
tence in this envelope. Troy, N. York, August, 1827. 

Providence, October 5th, 1837. 

Dear Sir — About three weeks since I received a letter 
from Rev. Richard Stone, pastor of the First Congregational 
Society, of West-Bridgewater, Mass. enclosing one addressed 
to Miss Brackett, with a request that she would read it 
without breaking the seals. As he is a particular friend of 



66 APPENDIX. 

hem, she was easily induced to do it, though such comrnu- 
cations have generally been read with reluctance, as it re- 
quires great exertion to read through several thicknesses of 
paper, as is frequently necessary. 

I addressed a line to Mr. Stone, giving Miss Brackett's 
reading of the letter directed to her, and have just received 
an answer from him, in which he says : " Your letter con- 
taining mine, with the seals unbroken, came safely to hand, 
and to my gratification it was read correctly." 

Should you consider this fact of any importance, you are 
at liberty to make such disposition of it as you may think 
proper. 

Yours with respect, 

G. CAPRON. 

Mr. T. C. Hartshorn. 

Experiments of this kind have been tried frequently. The 
fact that some somnambulists have the faculty of seeing 
through opaque substances, is established beyond a doubt, 
[See Note 11, part 1.] 



Note 17. 

When a somnambulist has any thing in his hand, the 
magnetizer may will him to give it to any person in the 
room, and it will be done accordingly, though not a word be 
said by any one. If another individual attempt to take it 
by grasping it, or by insinuating his hand between the ob- 
ject and the hand of the person to whom it is offered, the 
somnambulist evades him with the rapidity of thought, and 
places it where he was requested to place it. I have 
seen several persons try in this manner, all at a time, to 
seize the object, but without success. With almost incon- 
ceivable dexterity of evasion, the somnambulists retained 
their own hold, and conveyed the charge in safety. 

What is equally singular, was related to me by Mr. Pot- 
ter. A patient of his with whom I am acquainted, when 



APPEKDIX. 69 

she is in the somnambulic state, though she does not see, 
that is, has no clairvoyance, when requested to hand any 
object to another, though the magnetizer endeavor to exert 
no influence at the time, will not give it up to any but the 
person designated. She does not offer any explanation of 
this herself, but says she always knows when the right per- 
son presents his hand, even when he says nothing. This 
has been witnessed by several of my friends. The case 
of this young lady, which is mentioned at the forty-seventh 
page, is a strong one to prove the alleviating power of 
magnetism. She is under the medical care of Dr. L. L. 
Miller. 



Note 18. 

Somnambulists frequently display ingenuity and acuteness 
of thought which are very striking. An instance may be 
given which was related to me by Dr. Cleveland, of Paw- 
tuxet. 

Professor Yates, of Schenectady, and Rev. Mr. Dumont, 
of Newport, had been admitted by him to see a patient of 
his, while in the somnambulic state. After various experi- 
ments to test the clairvoyance of the lady, one of the gen- 
tlemen, perhaps to dispel the lingering mist of incredulity, 
opened the testament, and pointing to a verse, requested her 
to read it. She declined reading it ; but at length said she 
would read one on the opposite leaf. On being desired to 
do so, she pointed her finger to the following passage, and 
read it. " Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not he- 
Here /"—John, 4 : 48. 



Note 19. 

The following passage is extracted from one of the 
letters of Lafavette to Washington. As it was written in 



70 APPENDIX. 

English, the reader will perceive the peculiarities which 
stamp it as the production of a foreigner. It is found in the 
" Memoirs, Correspondence, and Manuscripts of General La- 
fayette, published by his family," 3 vols., just issued by 
Messrs. Sanders & Otley, New- York. 

" A German doctor, called Mesmer, having made the 
greatest discovery upon animal magnetism, he has instructed 
scholars, among whom, your humble servant is called one 
of the most enthusiastic. I know as much as any conjuror 
ever did, which reminds me of our friend's at Fishkill 
interview with the devil, that made us laugh so much at his 
house, and before I go, I will get leave to let you into the 
secret of Mesmer, which, you may depend upon, is a grand 
philosophical discovery." 



Note 20. 

Somnambulism will probably give the death-blow to su- 
perstition ; at least, in some of its forms. The superstitious 
are they, who, through ignorance, attribute natural appear- 
ances and events to a supernatural cause, and are the least 
likely to have faith in the power of this agent. Prepos- 
sessed, as they generally are, with the opinion that a super- 
natural influence is exerted in all uncommon things, which 
they cannot account for, they are unwilling to listen to one 
who refers them to a principle whose laws are but little 
known. They see all history full of unaccountable rela- 
tions ; and they look upon the attempt to explain them ra- 
tionally, as daring, and even impious. Such is the case with 
some very conscientious, but very weak people. They do 
not consider that Omnipotence is displayed as much in the 
extraordinary application of known principles, as in the ap- 
plication of those which are hidden from us ; and that the 
idea of a contravention of natural laws, does not of necessity, 
enter into the signification of the word miracle. The word 
miraculous, meaning wonderful, may with propriety be ap- 
plied to every exertion of divine power which surpasses 



APPENDIX, 



71 



our ordinary experience. But if it were necessary to quiet 
the apprehensions of such people, it might be stated that the 
least miracle recorded in holy writ, is beyond comparison 
greater than any thing effected by this agent. The turning 
of water into wine, and the healing of the sick by the touch, 
are the only things that are approached in semblance by the 
magnetic action. To affirm that the two things are the 
same, is an assumption not warranted by a careful attention 
to the facts. And if, in the two cases, the same agent is 
employed, we cannot help perceiving a vast difference in 
the effects produced. In one, the cure is instantaneous ; in 
the other, long, and tedious. In the one, there is no failure ; 
in the other, there is uncertainty. 

The tree that is caused to spring from the earth instan- 
taneously to a great growth, and the one that throws out its 
branches one by one, gaining its maturity in an hundred 
years, may both be sustained by the same laws of vegeta- 
tive growth, accelerated in one case, and not in the other. 
Yet the first exhibits an instance of miraculous power ex- 
erted, and the other follows the course of nature in its slow 
developement. It is not, therefore, a derogation from the 
virtue of recorded miracles, to suppose we have obtained a 
faint glimpse of the principles by which they were per- 
formed ; but the supposition is gratuitous. 

The crude and ill-digested state of our knowledge on this 
subject, the wonderful effects that have been produced, and 
the suggestive energy with which they are fraught, have led 
enthusiastic men into a wide and boundless field of specula- 
tion. They imagine there are no limits to this power, be- 
cause they cannot fix them. 

They are like the first discoverers of Nootka Sound, who 
laid it down on their charts as a vast inland sea, simply 
because the mist prevented their seeing the opposite shore. 
They do mischief to the cause of truth by rash attempts to 
sustain unfounded theories f and they are they who have 
broached the doctrine to which allusion has been made. 

When we examine the subject coolly, we shall find in it 
traces of what has been practised for centuries. Witchcraft, 
magic, exorcism, and sorcery, will soon be capable no more 



72 APPENDIX. 

of perplexing the minds of men, for superstition will be 
known no more. As the progress of astronomy dispelled 
the dread inspired by eclipses, and by comets, which "from 
their horrid hair shook pestilence and war," so may the dis- 
covery of this new power in the human mind, destroy the 
lingering remnants of superstition, while it also rescues from 
the reproach of utter falsehood, many a tale of barbaric 
times. 



Note 21. —Page 110. 

TRANSMISSION OF PAIN. 

The transmission of the symptoms from the magnetizer 
to the magnetized is frequent, and it is for this reason that 
Deleuze considers good health indispensable in a magnetizer. 
In the case of Madame Montaux, we see the opposite effect 
taking place. -If this occurs more frequently than we are 
aware of it, it may account for the peculiar oppression and 
weakness which some persons feel after magnetizing. And 
if there be any truth in the theory of a fluid, the directions 
given by Deleuze to flirt the fingers at the termination of a 
pass in order to throw it off from ourselves, derive additional 
w r eight from this circumstance, and are worthy of being 
implicitly followed in cases of contagious disease. 

I have known a somnambulist, when in her natural state, 
to be afflicted with a violent side-ache, in consequence of 
sitting down and taking the hand of a patient then being 
magnetized for that complaint. Her susceptibility to the 
magnetic influence was so great, that although the magnet- 
izer did not direct his attention to her, she was the first of 
the two to fall into the magnetic state. 

The same thing has been observed by the celebrated phys- 
iologist GeorgcL He says, that whenever he put his som- 
nambulists in communication with a sick person, they im- 
mediately experienced a pain, an uneasiness, and sometimes 
a sharp affection in the corresponding organs. 



APPENDIX. 73 

Note 22. ~ Page 125. 

THE MAGNETIC FLUID. 

I have heard patients say they can see the magnetic fluid, 
as did those of M. N. Whether this is an illusion of the 
imagination, or whether there is in reality a fluid, has long 
been a matter of question among the learned. M. Bertrand, 
in his work on somnambulism, rejects the opinion of its 
existence. He says that the idea originates or is perpetu- 
ated in the minds of the magnetizers, and is thence trans- 
fused into the minds of their patients. That such might be 
the case, were there no fluid, there cannot be much doubt ; 
but it has frequently happened that patients have professed 
to see the fluid, when they who magnetized them were not 
fluidists. And it must also be remembered that the imagi- 
nation of somnambulists cannot be permanently affected In 
regard to an object. As soon as the will of the operator 
ceases to act, the object returns to what it really is. For 
instance, he may cause a lady's work-bag to have the ap- 
pearance of a child, and he may induce the patient to caress 
it as such ; but the moment he withdraws his attention from 
the subject, it returns to its proper appearance, and she 
hugs the delusion no more.* If you try this experiment, 
and find out that every impression of that kind is of neces- 
sity transient, will there not be some difficulty in adopting 
Bertrand's notion? Besides, it requires a positive effort to 
induce a deception of any kind ; and many who try to do 
it, fail, because they have not exerted sufficient energy of 
conception. It would therefore seem impossible for a mere 
opinion among magnetizers that such a fluid does exist, to 
produce a delusion so strong as to deceive their somnambu- 
lists, and make them constantly affirm the same thing in 
regard to its existence. 



* I am assured by Dr. Cleveland, of Pawtuxet, that he has one 
patient whom neither he nor any other person has ever succeeded 
in deceiving by experiments of this kind, though they have been 



74 APPENDIX. 

It should, however, be borne in mind, that somnambulism 
presents so great a variety of phases, and is attended with 
such diversity of powers, that we cannot be too cautious in 
adopting theories, especially if their adoption forecloses all 
further investigation of the points in question. 

It ought to be stated here, that some somnambulists 
do not see any fluid, even when their attention is drawn 

to it. 

If any one thinks this a strong objection to the theory of 
a fluid, let him remember that somnambulists vary greatly 
in the power of clairvoyance ; and not only so, the same in- 
dividual has it at one time very weak, and at another time 
very strong. It is difficult to conceive how any effect can 
take place, without a material medium. It may be granted 
that somnambulism may, under certain circumstances, occur 
by the mere power of the imagination ; but this does not by 
any means admit the conclusion that the phenomena are at- 
tributable to the same cause ; or that the will and influence 
of another's mind do not produce any effect when they are 
exerted. Polarity may be given to an iron rod, heated to a 
certain degree and held in a certain direction, by a smart 
blow at one end with a hammer ; and the rod may acquire 
polarity by the silent operation of nature in the course of a 
long time, if left in the same position. But, if from the lat- 
ter fact, we infer that the hammer had no agency in the 
former one, we are guilty of an absurdity altogether analo- 
gous to the one hinted at above. 

Allowing, then, that the effect is produced by the vis volun- 
tatis of the magnetizer, and that it is difficult to conceive 
how it can act without a medium, we should not reject an 
opinion which is supported by the authority of perhaps nine- 
tenths of the European writers on the subject, unless we can 
present the apology of a thorough investigation. We may 
hold it in doubt, until it is proved to be correct. 

But we could give another reason in favor of the theory. 
The passes are always made downwards to produce an ef- 
fect ; and upwards, or transversely, when we wish to lessen 
the magnetic action, or relieve it entirely. Let any one try 
the one for the other, and the result may assist him in per- 



APPENDIX, 75 

eeiving the force of the argument.* Of course, it must not 
be forgotten, that some magnetizers make no passes at all 
with very susceptible persons ; but since the passes are 
generally requisite, we may argue from the general fact. 

Sitting once with a somnambulist while she was in a mag- 
netized state, she observed to me, " You would magnetize 
very well ; you can magnetize my hand ;" at the same 
time she extended her hand towards me. I took her lightly 
by the wrist, and, with my other hand, made several passes 
along her hand from the wrist to the end of the fingers. It 
was paralyzed. I suspected she had done it voluntarily, 
for I have heard of their doing it of their own accord,f and 
I had determined not to exert any will during the manipu- 
lation. Several persons in the room came to examine the 
hand. " Now bring it back again," said the somnambulist. 
" Well," said I ; and I began the passes in the same direc- 
tion as before. The rigidity of the fingers and the tension 
of muscles became extreme. She seized my wrist, and with 
considerable violence, made me change the direction of the 
passes from the fingers to the wrist ; and eight or ten of 
them restored the hand to the natural state. There are, 
however, weighty arguments against the existence of a fluid. 
This is a question, which may one day be satisfactorily 
settled ; and, perhaps, it involves important considerations 
in regard to the processes employed in curing the sick. 



* If a patient requires the manipulations in order to be put to 
sleep, and you cannot effect it by the upward passes, is it not a proof 
that the imagination does not play the most important part in pro- 
ducing the magnetic sleep ? 

tMiss A****, a young lady magnetized by Mr. William Grant, 
of Providence, has the power of paralyzing either of her own arms 
or fingers, when she is in the natural state, and that by the mere 
force of her own will. Mr. C. C. Potter tells me he has seen this 
repeatedly done. 

While Miss A**** was on a visit in New- York, Dr. David L. 
Rogers called upon Messrs. Grant and Potter, stating his desire to 
investigate the subject of animal magnetism, and his utter disbelief 
in its power. Miss A. being in the natural state, Mr. Grant, in or- 
der to convince him that he possessed this power, requested Doctor 



76 APPENDIX. 

Note 23.— Page 147. 

SCROFULA. 

Mr. Daniel Greene, of Pawtucket, has been successful in 
diseases of this class. I have seen one of his patients, thir- 
teen years of age, a somnambulist, whom he has cured of 
the king's evil. 



Note 24.— Page 153. 

EPILEPSY. 

Miss ******, of this city, has been successfully treated 
for this complaint by Dr. Brownell. He began to magnet- 
ize her in the month of January last, and has continued the 
treatment up to the present time. This young woman has 
exhibited some of the most striking traits of clairvoyance. 
Among the many individuals who have had an opportunity 
to witness them, are Rev. John A. Clark, of Philadelphia, 
Rev. Doctors Yates and Potter, of Schenectady, Rev. A. 
Kaufman, of Charleston, S. C, and Dr. Joshua B. Flint, of 
Boston. In the consultations she has had, she has been 
successful in pointing out the causes and the seats of some 
diseases ; and so much confidence has been inspired in the 
correctness of her observations, that few who know the cir- 
cumstances, would hesitate to rely upon them in cases of 
dislocation, of diseases which affect the bones, &c. She is 
not a " somnambulist by profession," and is not, therefore, 

Rogers to magnetize the lower part of one of her arms. The Doc- 
tor took hold of the fore arm, and at the same time, as he afterwards 
declared, willed to have the shoulder paralyzed. On asking the 
question, it was found that she could move the fore arm very well, 
but on requesting her to move her shoulder, it was completely para- 
lyzed, so that she could not move it. This took place on or about 
the 8th of September. 



APPENDIX, < ' 

liable to the suspicion which is involved in the consideration 
of pecuniary interest. 

In order to state this case correctly, I have just been to 
see Dr. Brownell, and gathered the following particulars in 
the course of conversation. 

She had been troubled with epileptic fits about six years. 
They were at first irregular in their attacks, but afterwards 
they came on as frequently as once a fortnight, and some- 
times once a week ; and they were very severe. She has 
been under magnetic treatment about eight months, during 
which no medicinal remedies have been administered. 

At the first sitting, which lasted about three quarters of 
an hour, no apparent effect was produced by the manipula- 
tions. At the second, sleep was induced in about twenty 
minutes. At the third, in about ten minutes. At the fourth 
sitting, she was put into the magnetic sleep in a minute, the 
magnetizer standing about eight feet off, and making no 
motions of the hands; since which time no manipulatory 
processes have been used. 

She is generally awakened by making the reversed 
passes ; but is easily roused by the volition of the magnet- 
izer. If she is told to wake up at any given time, she is 
punctual in doing it. Dr. Brownell once left her in the 
somnambulic state at his own house, and in communication 
with several visiters, bidding her to wake up at five o'clock. 
He then took the Fall River steamer, which started at three 
o'clock, intending to be absent about twenty-four hours. 
While on the passage, about ten miles down the river, fear- 
ing that the visiters at his house might, by their experiments 
and conversation with her, prevent the patient from waking 
at the specified time, and being desirous of trying the extent 
of his influence, he told the Rev. Frederick A. Farley, who 
was in the boat, that he intended to " cut off the communi- 
cation between them." On his return, he learned that she 
had ceased speaking at fifteen minutes before four o'clock, 
after which no one in the room could get any replies to the 
questions which were asked her. On waking up at the 
appointed time, (five o'clock.) before the visiters had retired, 
a* 



78 APPENDIX. 

she gave as a reason for her conduct, that Dr. Browneli 
had told her not to answer them. 

The health of this young woman appears now to be fully 
established. She has not had an epileptic fit since the 
commencement of the treatment. In the magnetic state, 
she declares that she is perfectly cured, and shall have no 
return of the disorder,* 



Note 25.— Page 163. 

BLINDNESS. 

In the appendix to the first part of this work, I have in- 
serted some articles in relation to Miss Loraina Brackett, 
which the reader will recollect. Since those articles were 
published, I have received, among other foreign books on 
the subject, two large volumes, containing an alphabetical 
list of cures effected in France, by animal magnetism, from 
the time of Mesmer to the present, to which Deleuze refers 
in a note, p. 169. Among these cures, which, by the way, 
are duly authenticated by the names of physicians, patients, 
and witnesses, so that they may as justly claim our atten- 
tion as any on record, there are several performed upon 
persons totally or partially blind. 

It will be recollected that Mesmer had nearly succeeded 
in restoring perfect sight to Mademoiselle Paradis, at Vi- 
enna, and would doubtless have succeeded thoroughly, had 
he been permitted to remain secure from the attacks of 
bigotry and ignorant malice. The whole of that case is 
detailed at length in these volumes. Many others also may 
be found under the heads of Cecite, Goutte Sereine, and 
Ophtalmie. I cannot refrain from translating two of them. 

M. Hebert was at Paris in January, 1814, among the 
conscripts destined to join the grenadiers of the guard. 
Certain writings which had been given him to do at the 
barracks, and in the performance of which he had already 

* Mr. Thomas M. Parker gave me the same information. 



APPENDIX. 79 

passed several nights, occasioned an inflammation of the 
right eye. Having gone to pay a visit to M. Ducommun, 
the latter proposed to magnetize him. He consented, but 
with the air of a person who placed no faith in it. The 
next day he returned, with his eye still more red than it was 
the day before. M. Ducommun put him in communication 
with a somnambulist, who prescribed leeches at the temples. 
The two succeeding days, not having seen him, M. Ducom- 
mun went to him, and found him on a bed, surrounded with 
domestics, neighbors, a nurse, and all the medical parapher- 
nalia. He was told that M. Hebert had passed a very bad 
night ; that he had had a frightful delirium ; that four per- 
sons could hardly hold him ; and that the physician had 
declared him to be affected with a nervous malignant fever. 
He approached the bed gently, and placed his hand upon 
the pit of his stomach, scarcely touching him, and saying- 
nothing. At the end of several minutes, M. Hebert was 
in somnambulism, and could tell the cause of his disorder. 
It was the optic nerve, which, irritated by the inflammation 
of the eye, had communicated the same irritation by sym- 
pathy to all the nervous system. In the evening, M. Du- 
commun returned, and found the patient sitting near the 
fire, alone with his nurse. The latter told him he had been 
better during the day. He approached him, put him to 
sleep by touching his stomach, and made him write down 
the state of his health, and the remedies proper for him. 
He ordered for himself a copious bleeding on the right arm, 
leeches at the temples, glisters, bathing of the feet, barley 
syrup (strop d' orgeat) for drink, &c. When he was awak- 
ened, M. Ducommun showed him his prescription, and told 
him to request his physician to bleed him the next morning, 
if it appeared to him proper. " He will be so much the 
more willing," replied Hebert, " as he told me this morning 
such was his intention." 

The next day, February 3d, M. Ducommun arrived, and 
asked the patient the effects of the bleeding. " The phy- 
sician would not do it." "Why? he ordered it himself." 
" Yes ; but when he knew that I had been magnetized, and 
that my own prescription given in somnambulism had been 



80 APPENDIX. 

presented to him, he was excited against you. and he went 
out declaring he would never set foot in the house again." 

M. Ducommun was grieved by this disappointment ; but 
he put M. Hebert asleep, who told him to send for a sur- 
geon merely to bleed him. As soon as the patient was bled 
he experienced relief. On the 5th, he caused leeches io be 
applied at nine o'clock in the morning. On the 6th, he was 
much better ; he ordered for himself glisters and foot baths ; 
and finally, on the 27th, he said the eye was cured, and that 
it was only necessary to cover it with a bandage to protect 
it from the cold. 

The next day he wrote to his father an account of his dis- 
ease, and the singular circumstances of his cure, and as noth- 
ing prevented his going out, he came to pass the evening at 
M. Ducommun's, and to be magnetized. Three or four 
hours had hardly passed away, when he perceived a foreign 
body introduced into his weak eye, which had there caused 
a little globule of blood. He prescribed for himself an 
emollient and cooling poultice ; and, in case the blood were 
not dissipated at the end of two days, a leech was to be ap- 
plied to the eye, directly on the affected part. 

The next morning, the mistress of the house where he 
resided, sent a servant to M. Ducommun, to inform him that 
M. Hebert had just been arrested by two agents of police, 
who, without hearing his expostulations, and without regard- 
ing the state of his disease, had compelled him to dress 
himself forthwith, and carried him away with the poultice 
over his eye. M. Ducommun ran immediately, but he 
could obtain no information from the persons in the hotel. 
No one had thought or dared to ask these agents whither 
they were conducting M. Hebert. He went to the police of- 
fice, without any information ; he went to the houses of all 
the friends of the prisoner, without introductions. Finally, 
after fifteen days of fruitless search and painful expectation, 
he received a letter from M. Hebert, in which he announced 
to him that he had been arrested as a refractory conscript ; 
that without more ample information they had cast him into 
a cold and damp prison, where he had nothing but straw 
for bed and covering ; that the fever had seized him anew ? 



APPENDIX. 81 

and the ophthalmia had returned ; but nevertheless the symp- 
toms had diminished by degrees, and he was cured ; but 
had lost his right eye entirely.* 

On the reception of this distressing intelligence, M. Du- 
commun wrote forthwith to General the Baron Preval, to 
obtain leave of absence for M. Hebert, having still the hope 
of restoring sight to him. The General had the goodness 
to grant the request. 

Hebert hastened to the house of M. Ducommun. After 
many explanations of his adventure, and its sad results, and 
after the examination of his eye, which appeared to be very 
good, but which was insensible to the impression of the 
strongest light, the latter magnetized him. Hebert was no 
sooner in the magnetic state, than he burst out into the most 
lively emotions of anger and despair. " Wretches!" cried 
he ; " to treat me like a vile criminal ! to throw me into 
prison ! to refuse me all aid ! if I am not dead it is no fault 
of theirs ! what injustice ! what infamy !" 

" My friend, be calm." " Ah, sir, let me breathe out my 
rage and my chagrin. In the wakeful state I command 
myself; but I injure myself by doing it. This tends to 
console me, and dissipate the sadness into which I am 
plunged." 

When his passion was calmed, M. Ducommun demanded 
whether his eye was irretrievably lost. He examined it 
with attention, and said, no ; there were three days left to 
commence a new treatment ; and if it were not done in that 
space of time, there were no human means capable of curing 
it. " How many days are required to accomplish a com- 
plete cure?" " Twelve." 

As soon as he was awakened, M. Ducommun told him to 
go and ask leave of absence for a fortnight, to enable him to 
bring him under treatment. He obtained it the next day, 
and returned in the evening with his father, who, alarmed 
at what had befallen his son, had come from Merlerault, 
where he lived. 



* Many examples of the danger of interrupting magnetic treat- 
ment are given in this work. 



82 APPENDIX. 

When the elder Hebert was gone, M. Ducommun put the 
young man asleep. The crisis occurred as he had an- 
nounced it, but much weaker than the first one. "Do not 
abandon me," said he to his magnetizer ; " if you do not treat 
me yourself, I shall never recover my health." " What 
must be done to your eye to commence with ?" " Recal the 
ophthalmia ; my eye is in the condition of a limb broken 
and unskilfully set, which ought to be broken anew." " How 
much time have we now to commence a new treatment ?" 
" Until twelve o'clock, to-morrow." " Why not a longer 
time ?" " Because there still remains a trace of the last in- 
flammation, which would cease at that epoch. If it were 
completely passed, the eye would be radically cured, and I 
should be one-eyed for life ; but by means of the remains 
of this inflammation, not apparent it is true, but which nev- 
ertheless exists, I will recal the disease ; I will treat it as it 
ought to have been treated, and as fast as the pain and the 
inflammation disappear, the sight will return." 

He then said it was necessary to put a handful of coarse 
salt into boiling water, to place his eye above the vapor, and 
to continue this three days, in order to bring on a speedy in- 
flammation. M. Ducommun observed to him, that, according 
to the laws of chemistry, the salt does not volatilize with 
the steam, and in consequence, the irritation he wished to 
produce could not occur. " I am sorry for chemistry," said 
he, " but I assure you the water will raise a part of the salt, 
which will irritate the eye, and bring on an inflammation." 

This effect took place as he had predicted. 

The fourth day, he ordered for himself the following col - 
lyrium : boil a fresh egg y till it is hard, take off the shell, 
cut it into two equal parts, take away the yolk, put in the 
place of it a piece of white vitriol as large as a pea, moisten 
the whole with four spoonfuls of rose water, put it into a 
fine linen cloth, press out the liquid through the linen, and 
use it to make three injections daily into the affected eye. 

This collyrium, three drops of which were put into the 
eye by the end of the finger, as he had directed, was the 
only remedy employed in the cure. On the fifth day, the 
patient said he could see the light, if one would uncover his 



APPENDIX. 83 

eye a moment. The experiment was made for my own 
satisfaction ; but only once. On the tenth day, the inflam- 
mation began to diminish, the pain was not so sharp, and he 
could bear daylight for a few instants. On the twelfth, he 
was perfectly cured. He then ordered for himself the use 
of green spectacles for two months, because his eye would 
be still feeble and delicate all that time, on account of the 
various treatments which it had received. 

Some days after his entire cure, he gave notice to M. 
Ducommun, that he should lose his clairvoyance in less 
than two days. "Will you cease to sleep?" "No; I 
shall always sleep when you wish me to ; but I shall cease 
to see so long as I am well." At these words M. Ducom- 
mun testified his sorrow at losing him at the moment when 
he had a sick son. M. Hebert reflected an instant ; all at 
once he uttered a cry of joy, and informed him he had just 
found out how to preserve his clairvoyance while in health. 
He afterwards told him what was to be done for this pur- 
pose, put off the execution of it till the next day, and made 
him promise never to tell this method to any person, not 
even to himself, when he should awake. The next day 
after he had been put into somnambulism in pursuance of his 
own direction, he assured us he should be clairvoyant so 
long as he was in good health ; but by a change in the or- 
dinary laws of magnetism, he should see no more when sick, 
provided the same means were not employed which had 
then just been used.* 

M. Ducommun adds, that he never saw a somnambulist 
less fatigued with holding consultations, more prompt and 
correct in seeing diseases, or more sure in pointing out the 
remedy or the treatment. Such was the superiority of his 
clairvoyance that other somnambulists asked his advice. 

We once had occasion to see M. Hebert in somnambu- 
lism ; he was wounded in the knee, and at first consulted 
one of the most celebrated physicians in Paris, M. D***. 



* " We know," says the compiler, " that the execution of this 
means was preceded with a terrible nervous crisis." 



84 APPENDIX. 

Not being satisfied with his advice, he came to M. Ducom- 
mun to be magnetized. As soon as he was in somnambu- 
lism, he mentioned the consultation of the doctor, and told 
us in what respect appearances had deceived him. Then 
he detailed the cause of his disease, its effects, and pointed 
out the remedies with the greatest readiness, and the most 
entire confidence. 

The next case which I shall translate, is that of the Mar- 
chioness of Rousses, aged forty-five years, at Paris, in 1818, 
under the charge of M. B***, a member of the Society of 
Magnetism, originally published in the Bibliotheque du Mag- 
netisme, No. 16, p. 47. 

On the 26th of June, 1816, Madame la Marquise des 
Rousses, coming from mass at the church of Saint Sulpice, 
where she had had a long fainting fit, while in the midst of 
the rue du Petit-Bourbon, was suddenly struck with an at- 
tack of the gutta serena. She was conducted home by her 
attendants ; and'had lost her sight. A large blister was ap- 
plied immediately to the back of the neck. The next day, 
when it was removed, she experienced something like an 
electric shock ; she saw something flash before her eyes ; 
and she fainted again. Recovering her senses, she per- 
ceived that all hope was vain ; she was totally blind. 

During the first months of her disease, the marchioness 
experienced inconceivable pains in the head. The disease, 
without being apparent, manifested itself all at once by a 
swelling so extraordinary in the muscles of the back part 
of the head, that her head-dress was moved by the violence 
of their contraction. Not able to endure the bed, she thus 
passed three months extended upon a sofa and without sleep- 
ing. M. P Abbe d' A** T*** had then occasion to see her. 
He magnetized her, but indispensable affairs obliged him to 
discontinue the treatment. Her health grew worse, and 
she removed into the country. 

Finally, after two years and a half of suffering, she re- 
turned to Paris in the beginning of July, 1818, and stopped 
at the house of M. 1' Abbe d'A***. By good fortune she 



APPENDIX. 85 

there met M. B***, to whom she spoke of her sad condi- 
tion. Touched with her misfortunes, he proposed to mag- 
netize her. She consented to it, and in a few minutes she 
was in somnambulism. Her clairvoyance was gradually 
developed in a singular manner. One day, consulting with 
herself about the fate of her son who had been absent ten 
years, she saw him arrive from America, and land at Calais 
three days afterwards. It will be seen that this circum- 
stance was not, as some might think, altogether foreign to 
the treatment of Madame des Rousses. She caused M. 
B*** to write a letter to her son, and with her own hand 
added to the letter two lines, while she was in the somnam- 
bulic state, and announced the time when an answer would 
arrive. The answer did not arrive at the time specified ;* 
and the inquietude of Madame des Rousses caused her to 
quit the country seat where she lived, and where M. B*** 
used to go every week to magnetize her, and she returned 
to Paris. M. B*** arrived at her house with a somnambu- 
list, M. Lemaire, a young soldier, of twenty -three years, 
blind also, in consequence of a gun-shot wound in the head. 
M. B*** put the two in communication, and made them ex- 
amine each other's case. Madame des Rousses told M. Le- 
maire that he would see well enough to walk. And he in 
his turn assured her, that the same cause which had de- 
prived her of sight would restore it, viz., the blood. "A 
strong excitement" said he, " will give it an impetuous ten- 
dency to the head" " Yes, it is true, and I see all the hu- 
mors flow out by the ears. This excitement will be occa- 
sioned by the presence of my dear son ; and I shall see him 
at Havre. I must go thither ; I must depart immediately." 
Instantly Madame des Rousses employed herself in search- 
ing the places where the hacks usually stand. She looked 
at them all, and finally found some in the rue du Bouloy. 
" There are two left," said she. Some one went and ascer- 



* M. des Rousses remained but a few days at Calais. Important 
affairs obliged him to go suddenly to Havre, and this is what pre- 
vented his answer from arriving in due season. 
H 



86 APPENDIX. 

tained it to be a fact. Filled with confidence in divine Pro- 
vidence, Madame des Rousses departed the same day for 
Havre, and some days after her arrival, she had the happi- 
ness of embracing her son. The impression of this moment, 
produced an extraordinary effect upon her organs. She 
seemed to herself absolutely light-headed. The second day 
she experienced in her head the most violent pains, and 
especially on the night of the 20th and 21st of October. 
Finally, between four and five o'clock in the morning, after 
a moment of horrible sufferings, she heard, as she thought, 
the report of a pistol close to her ears. She fainted, and 
remained in a profound stupor until eight o'clock in the 
morning, when some one entered to call her. 

They found her inundated with blood, and with a very 
black matter, which had flowed from the ears during the 
sleep which had succeeded her fainting fit. She put her 
hand to her head, and raising the bandage which she kept 
constantly over her eyes, she perceived with rapture that 
the sight was restored to them. 

The physician, who was immediately sent for, was con- 
founded by an effect so extraordinary. He declared that 
the flowing which had taken place through the ears, ought, 
according to all the rules of the art, to have been diffused 
over the back part of the brain, and consequently to have 
occasioned the death of the patient. Madame des Rousses 
did not recollect in her ordinary state, that she had two 
months before announced this effect, and that from this 
moment she had requested M. B*** not to go beyond the 
ears at each pass, in order to concentrate the action of the 
fluid there. 

Since her return to Paris, she has been magnetized many 
times, and has ordered for herself the few medicaments 
which were necessary for the completion of the cure. 
M. B*** attended her to one of the sittings of the magnetic 
society, in order to remove all doubt in respect to this case. 
While there, Madame des Rousses, in compliance with the 
desire of some one of the members, took the first volume 
presented to her, and read without hesitation. At presrnt 



APPENDIX. 87 

her sight is so strong that she can read, work, or write, 
even without the aid of glasses. 

We have entered into some details in regard to the Mar- 
chioness des Rousses, because we have had the happiness 
of seeing her many times. We were present when she 
made the relation of her treatment in somnambulism. It is 
impossible to imagine any thing more touching and inter- 
esting. 



Note 26.— Page 175. 

Miss Brackett writes all her letters while in the magnetic 
state. I have seen none of them, but they are said by some 
of my friends who have seen them, to be excellent in their 
kind. As she has not yet been sufficiently restored to the 
use of her eyes, she cannot write in the ordinary state. 
The handwriting is said to be very regular. 

Unless she is magnetized she cannot enjoy the pleasure 
of reading, and this is one cause of her being so fond of re- 
maining magnetized. 

While she was residing at the mansion of Stanford Newel, 
Esq. she found there Hannah More's Private Devotions, a 
small work which has been printed since she became blind. 
This she took with her when she retired one night ; and in 
the morning, before she was awakened from the magnetic 
sleep, she observed that she had been reading much of the 
time. One of the ladies of Mr. Newel's family soon dis- 
covered that by giving out the first line of several of the 
poems, she was able to repeat the whole, verbatim. In this 
manner she had learned at least twenty of the pieces. I 
have seen the book. It is the fine-type edition of Messrs. 
Crocker & Brewster ; Boston, 1836. This exercise doubt- 
less has a tendency to retard the progress of her cure ; but 
the natural activity of her mind makes it difficult for her to 
sit idle. 



83 APPENDIX, 



Note 27. 



The reader is here presented with letters from various 
physicians, which cannot fail to be highly interesting, not 
only from the nature of the cases whose treatment is de- 
scribed, but from the high characters of the authors in their 
own profession. Most of the intelligent physicians of the 
country are turning their attention to this subject, with a 
desire to become acquainted with its claims as a remedial 
agent ; and, so far, it has sustained itself to the satisfaction 
of all who have approached it in this spirit. These letters 
embrace precisely such cases as are stated in Deleuze, and 
have thus stamped the Practical Instruction with marks of 
its intrinsic value. 

FROM DOCTOR CLEVELAND. 

Pawtuxet, Oct. 2d, 1837. 
Dear Sir — It gives me much pleasure to comply with 
your request that I would communicate to you for publica- 
tion the results of my experience and observations- in ani- 
mal magnetism, as a therapeutic agent in the removal or 
mitigation of disease. I am the more willingly disposed to 
submit the following cases, from the firm conviction that 
many persons who are laboring under severe indisposition, 
and who might be relieved, hesitate about having recourse 
lo this agent, because they have not sufficient evidence of 
its power. If by communicating them, I can induce such 
persons to have confidence enough in it to make a trial of 
its efficacy, I will also suggest the propriety of applying to 
some magnetizer who has an acquaintance, not only with 
the diseases to which we are liable, but also with the com- 
plicated machine upon which he is to act, and with the 
peculiar sympathetic movements which are constantly going 
on, and are ever liable to be excited therein.* 



* The observation here made by Dr. Cleveland is worthy of at- 
tcntion. It requires no little exertion of magnanimity to rise above 
the fear of having selfish motives attributed to us, when a sense of 



APPENDIX. 89 

First case. — The first case I will present, is that of Miss 
-, possessing a constitution originally firm, but recently 



much impaired by disease, affecting principally the nervous 
system. Neither the patient nor myself had ever seen any 
manipulations, and she knew nothing of magnetism even by 
name, as it was then but recently introduced to public no- 
tice in New-England. 

About the first of January of the present year, she was 
attacked with an inflammation of the lungs. Her nerves be- 
came so much excited as to baffle all the ordinary means 
of quieting them, or of producing sleep. She was fast sink- 
ing for the want of rest ; the least noise, even the snapping 
of the fire, throwing her into painful spasms. 

Having heard of the effects of animal magnetism in cases 
of this kind, I gave it a trial, which resulted in procuring 
more quiet sleep in five successive hours, than she had ex- 
perienced in as many preceding days. But it took me an 
hour and a half before she was put into this sleep, and my 
perseverance was rewarded by the most clairvoyant som- 
nambulism at this first essay. This was repeated daily with 
the same happy effects in relation to the repose which she 
enjoyed ; and she soon became convalescent. A firmness 
was imparted to the nerves, which I had despaired of im- 
parting by the usual medicinal means ; and although she 
is not restored to perfect health, her life was, in my opin- 
ion, preserved wholly by the salutary influence of the mag- 
netic practice. 

Dr. Eldridge, of East-Greenwich, Dr. Perry, of Newport, 
Dr. Cleveland, of Pawtucket, and many other physicians, 
have had an opportunity to see this patient. Her clair- 
voyance is very lucid, and while in the magnetic state she 



duty obliges us to tell what we believe to be an important truth. It 
will be found, when Deleuze is thoroughly studied, and when the 
subject of which he treats is better known, that his cautions on this 
head are not the result of timidity, but of well-informed fear, lest it 
should be abused by the ignorant. His character and his long prac- 
tice, have justly made the Practical Instruction, the text-book of 
all European practitioners. 
H* 



90 



APPENDIX, 



reads any book with facility, though every precaution be 
used to bandage and secure her eyes. - , 

Case second. — I was called to attend Miss , and found 

her laboring under a severe attack of the tic douloureux. I 
pursued the ordinary course of treatment for four days, with- 
out affording her the least alleviation. On the evening of 
the fourth day, I resorted to magnetism. After an hour 
and a half, complete relief was obtained. Owing, however, 
to the disturbed state of her mind, perfect sleep was not in- 
duced, though I have good evidence of her not having closed 
her eyes one hour for the three preceding days and nights. 
At the end of seven hours the pain returned, though it was 
less violent. I saw her soon after, and removed it as be- 
fore, in one-fourth part of the time. In ten hours it returned 
again, when by a slight effort, it was permanently removed. 
Somnambulism did not occur. 

Case third. — On the third day of last June, I was re* 

quested to visit • Mrs. , of Providence, between thirty 

and forty years of age, from whom, and from her attending 
physician, Dr. L. L. Miller, I obtained the following history 
of her recent and her then present situation. She had been 
laboring for three months under an affection of the liver. 
During this time she had not left her chamber, had become 
considerably emaciated, and was daily losing her strength. 
Her nervous system had become so much deranged that she 
could not see her friends, could not sit up but a few minutes 
at once, and, at that time, she was suffering for the want of 
sleep. This deprivation of sleep was the occasion of my 
being called to see her. 

I found that the principal cause of her suffering, was the 
large accumulation of bile, which nothing but powerful doses 
of calomel could remove. From this she experienced tem- 
porary relief, although she said it rapidly exhausted her 
strength. In short, she appeared to be convinced that she 
could not continue long, and was satisfied that this was also 
the opinion of her physician. " Now," said she, " if you 
can by the aid of magnetism, afford me any alleviation from 



APPENDIX* 91 

my present sufferings, if you can in the least smooth my 
passage to the tomb, it is all I can expect." 

The first attempt to procure sleep, proved successful in 
thirty minutes ; and though she slept but one hour, she felt 
much refreshed, it being the first she had had in forty-eight 
hours. The next morning I found she had passed a com- 
fortable night. I then magnetized her again, which had the 
effect of procuring a copious evacuation of bile, affording 
her all the relief without being attended with the debilitating 
effects of calomel. Magnetism was continued several days, 
followed by the same results, and thus rendering the use of 
cathartics unnecessary. Her health soon began to im- 
prove, and at the end of two weeks, she was able to ride 
out. I discontinued my visits on being assured by her that 
she was getting well fast enough. She was confident that 
she owed her restoration to magnetism, and she recently as- 
sured me that she should resort to it again, if she found her- 
self relapsing into her former miserable condition. 

Case fourth. — Mrs. W , about thirty years old, was 

afflicted with hypochondriasis. I cannot give a better ac- 
count of her situation, than by giving Dr. Cullen's descrip- 
tion of this disease, as every symptom therein described ob- 
tained in the present case. " The state of mind peculiar to 
hypochondriasis," says Dr. C, " is characterized by lan- 
guor, listlessness, a want of resolution and activity with re- 
spect to all undertakings, a disposition to seriousness, sad- 
ness, and timidity as to all future events ; an apprehension 
of the worst or the most unhappy state of things ; and there- 
fore upon slight grounds of apprehension of great evil, such 
persons are peculiarly attentive to their health, to even the 
smallest change of feeling in their bodies ; and from any 
unusual sensation, perhaps of the slightest kind, they appre- 
hend great danger, and death itself. In respect to these 
feelings and fears there is commonly the most obstinate be- 
lief and persuasion." 

Considering Mrs. W a suitable subject to receive 

benefit from magnetism, I obtained permission to make use 
of it, though she was entirely skeptical, and thought the 



92 APPENDIX. 

whole process of magnetism ridiculous and chimerical. On 
the first trial, August 12th, 1837, I had the satisfaction of 
inducing magnetic sleep in less than five minutes, and it 
continued five hours. 

When she awoke the favorable change in her appearance 
was evident to all the family. I saw her the second day 
after, and she appeared to be much improved. She was 
magnetized again with the same effect as before. 

As her place of residence is five miles from my own, I 
had an understanding with the husband and family, that she 
should retire precisely at nine o'clock, or before that time, 
in the evening, and I was to magnetize her as soon after as 
would be convenient, without regard to the place where I 
might be at the moment. My attempts to magnetize her 
under the above circumstances were perfectly successful, 
not only in inducing sleep, but also in the entire removal of 
all those unpleasant symptoms enumerated above. She is 
now enjoying better health than she has for the last four 
years ; which blessing she and her friends' attribute to the 
influence of animal magnetism. 

Yours respectfully, 

THOMAS CLEVELAND. 

Mr. T. C. Hartshorn. 



FROM DOCTOR CUTLER. 

Nashua, N. H. September 19, 1837. 

Mr. Thomas C. Hartshorn, 

Sir — Yours of the 14th came to hand three days since, 
but being engaged extensively in the practice of medicine, 
I have not had an opportunity to reply ere this. Although 
not habituated to writing for the public eye, yet sometimes 
the cause of truth may require our observations and expe- 
rience, however limited, to be made public, our private feel- 
ings to the contrary notwithstanding. For the last four 
years I have felt an interest in animal magnetism. For 
the last few months, I have been practically engaged in its 



APPENDIX. 93 

investigation. I am convinced that it is based upon truth ; 
or in other words, that it is a real science. I have come 
to this conclusion from sober reflection and observation. 
As all truth is of value,, and none need fear the truth if 
their conduct is right, this may be made a blessing to our 
country. 

My attention has been directed principally to its use as 
a remedial agent in disease. I have attempted but few of 
the many interesting experiments which may be performed 
upon persons in a magnetic sleep, except for its therapeu- 
tic power. I do not underrate them as connected w^ith sci- 
ence, but the investigation and treatment of disease is my 
business, and in this I use magnetism, and deem it of much 
utility. Among the number that I have magnetized for 
disease, there have been more than twenty perfect somnam- 
bulists. Some of them excel in pointing out and describing 
disease ; and to this I have directed their attention, among 
my patients. Out of several cases of examination of pa- 
tients by somnambulists, I will briefly relate two. 

Sept. 10th, 1837, I put Miss M., a somnambulist, living 
in my family, into a magnetic sleep for a head -ache, as 
she supposed. In about half an hour, Mr. Samuel F. Jen- 
ness came to my house by previous appointment, accom- 
panied by Miss Martha Dunn, aged twenty-four, who has 
been deaf and dumb for twenty-two years. This was caused 
by sickness. Health is now good ; formation of head ap- 
parently perfect ; intellect very good. I requested Miss M., 
the somnambulist, to examine Miss D. After a little time, 
the somnambulist said that there was a reddish yellow body 
in the brain connected with the nerve that went to the ear ; 
and that Miss D. could not hear or talk. I asked Miss M. 
if Miss D. could see ; she replied, that she could. I then 
asked the somnambulist if Miss D. could smell ; and the re- 
ply was, that she could. The somnambulist and Miss D. 
had no knowledge of each other previous to the examina- 
tion ; no person in my family knew of the examination pre- 
vious to its taking place. Subsequently Miss M. informed 
me that she knew nothing of deaf persons, or the cause of 
deafness. 



94 



APPENDIX. 



August 16th, 1837, 1 put the same somnambulist into a .mag- 
netic sleep, and, by appointment, my respected and talented 
friend, Dr. Bartlett, Mayor of Lowell, came in with his lady. 
I then sent a short distance for Mrs. Collins, who had a child 
about nine months old, which had been afflicted with incipi- 
ent cataract in both eyes for four months. Mrs. Collins 
has previously had three children similarly diseased, who 
died young with disease in the head. The child, being 
asleep, was examined by the somnambulist, who soon said 
that there was something in the body of the child's eye that 
prevented its seeing well. She further said that this was 
caused by the nerves of the eye being diseased in the brain. 
I am certain, as Mrs. Collins had recently come into town 
from Lynn, that Miss M. could not have known of the 
child's eyes being diseased previous to the examination ; 
and no person in my house knew of the examination previ- 
ous to its occurrence. 

For some months I have been in the practice of using 
magnetism in the treatment of many diseases, among which 
I may name tic 'douloureux, rheumatism, cephalalgia, bron- 
chitis, pneumonia, hepatitis, tonsillitis, spinal irritation, he- 
morrhoids, delirium tremens, ulcers, and paralysis. With 
the exception of three cases, the results have been salutary; 
and in these cases no influence was induced by magnetism. 
The effects of magnetism I have found to be various, and 
yet I have noted some results which I term general ; among 
which I may name increased activity of the capillary cir- 
culation, warmth and free perspiration, removal of pain, and 
somnolence. - The last is not so common as the former. I 
will relate a case or two of diseases, and their cure by 
magnetism. I shall relate only three, in which I am cer- 
tain imagination did not cause the result. 

Eleazer Barret, aged about forty-five, for eight years 
past has been afflicted with a paralysis of the right arm. 
For the space of three years he has been suffering from 
pain in the back of the head, attended with dyspnoea and 
cough. Some months since, out of curiosity, he challenged 
me to put him to sleep. I magnetized him at his house, 
and produced sleep in about fifteen minutes. The warmth 



APPENDIX. 95 

of the skin and the circulation of the capillary vessels were 
much increased, perspiration was free, and the paralyzed 
arm became warm and swelled. I repeated it four times. 
The pain in the head, neck, and chest, together with the 
dyspnoea and cough, were removed ; mobility and sensibility 
were restored to the paralyzed arm. I have obtained the 
same result in two other cases of paralysis. 

Miss R. Mclntyre, for about two years has been afflicted 
with an irritable ulcer on the ancle, the diameter of which 
was about two inches. The pain has been so smart as 
much of the time to prevent sleep ; and it caused much 
swelling of the foot. She made application for medical aid 
to many good surgeons, but received no benefit. June 29, 
1837, Miss M. applied to me to try the effects of magnetism. 
Without attempting to produce sleep, I magnetized the ulcer 
and foot. The immediate effect was the cessation of the 
excruciating pain, a visible diminution of the redness around 
the ulcer, followed by a subsidence of the swelling. The 
foot, which had been for months cold, became warm. With- 
out any other means being used, the ulcer rapidly healed, 
and is now entirely well. .Her health has not suffered by 
the healing of the ulcer. This interesting phenomenon and 
fact, of the redness attendant on the inflammation surround- 
ing the ulcer subsiding under the immediate action of mag- 
netism, has been witnessed by many in this place, among 
whom I may name Dr. Ebenezer Dearborn, of Nashua, and 
Drs. Bartlett and Kimball, of Lowell. 

If the magnetic power, whatever it may be, immediately 
removes the pain, the swelling, the redness, and the heat at- 
tendant on the inflammatory areola of this ulcer, why will 
it not in the same manner in inflammation of the brain, lungs, 
stomach, liver, or any other organ? Some other facts 
which have come under my notice, lead me to believe that 
such is the case. Facts like the above open an interesting 
field of inquiry for the philanthropist and the scientific phy- 
sician. I wish that some investigating physician would 
enter this field of inquiry, and make public his observations 
for the benefit of suffering humanity. 



96 APPENDIX. 

I have perused with much pleasure the first number of 
your translation of the work of the venerable and philan- 
thropic Deleuze. With pleasure I can give my testimony, 
in favor of the truth of many of his statements in that work, 
and I presume that most of the statements which I have not 
verified, are equally correct. 

Yours respectfully, 

CALVIN CUTLER. 



FROM THE SAME. 

Nashua, N. H. October 3, 1837. 
Mr. Thomas C. Hartshorn, 

S IR — I n conformity with your respectful request, I will 
now briefly detail a few observations in addition to my for- 
mer communication. To render this agent more useful, it 
has appeared to me a desideratum to convince people that 
we could act upon local and definite parts of the system, the 
other parts remaining uninfluenced. Although this requires 
a greater effort on the part of the magnetizer, than to affect 
the whole system, yet I have succeeded in this, in many 
cases, to my own satisfaction, and producing an entire con- 
viction of the utility of magnetism, in many beholders. 

In two instances I have succeeded in curing complete 
paralysis of the limbs of persons who had not been previously 
magnetized, and this without any somnolence ; and in these 
cases the individuals were unbelievers in magnetism. These 
experiments are important and interesting, as they show the 
ability which good magnetizers possess to act upon the dis- 
eased organs of the system without altering the state of the 
normal organs, which very much enhances the value of 
magnetism as a remedial agent in disease ; for it is well 
known to physicians that to cure diseased organs the med- 
icine given often induces functional disease in some other 
organ, of vital importance ; and happy is it for the patient, 
if the functional disease thus induced does not become or- 
ganic. If we can show by careful experiment and observa- 



APPENDIX. 97 

tion that the above statement in relation to the local effects 
are true, certainly the remedial power of magnetism is a 
boon not to be despised. As it is probable that many cases 
of fatal disease commence with only an irritation of some 
organ, and as probably this irritation is at its commencement 
merely an increase of the sensibility, inducing an influx of 
fluids to the part, and as the direct and apparently specific 
effect of magnetism is to lessen the sensibility and vascular 
activity of the organs, might we not expect relief by the 
use of magnetism in irritated and inflamed organs ? This 
relief I have obtained in irritated and inflamed brain, bron- 
chia, lungs, liver, stomach, and limbs. I will here mention 
that the patients whom I have magnetized for the above 
named diseased organs, make use of the same language to 
describe the effects of magnetism upon them, as in case of 
magnetic paralysis of the limbs; and the consecutive warmth 
and perspiration are the same in both cases. Hence I infer 
that the action of magnetism upon the important and vital 
organs is the same as upon the limbs. This is to me an 
interesting field of inquiry. 

I will now detail a case or two. 

Mrs. Ober, a respectable lady of this town, had been 
afflicted with an inveterate cutaneous disease of about 
eighteen months standing. This was attended with an in- 
tolerable itching to so great an extent that sleep was often 
prevented, sometimes for many days and nights in success- 
ion. At the request of the family, and in particular of her 
son, Dr. Benjamin Ober, of Montville, Maine, I magnetized 
her in the month of June. This I repeated several times. 
She became a good somnambulist. To the surprise of all, 
the intolerable itching was removed immediately, and re- 
turned no more. Under the use of magnetism the cutaneous 
eruption subsided ; but in a little time I ceased to magnetize 
this lady. In August, she died of dysentery. 

June 9, 1837. — I was called to attend Mrs. Fern, of this 
village, as accoucheur. She had been in travail about forty- 
eight hours, and her labor pains had been somewhat irreg- 
ular. She had obtained no sleep for three nights. At her 
request, and in presence of Mrs. Lawrence and Mrs. Wes- 
i 



98 APPENDIX. 

ton, I magnetized her. She went into a magnetic sleep in 
less than one minute. I would mention that I had never 
seen Mrs. Fern previous to this evening. Her sleep was 
very quiet. She slept about three hours, and then awoke 
very much refreshed. To my own surprise and the aston- 
ishment of all present, we observed this curious and inter- 
esting fact and phenomenon, viz.: that the specific and regular 
uterine contractions attending accouchement, continued with 
perfect regularity. After she came out of the magnetic 
sleep she was much refreshed, and it was apparently of 
benefit to her. 

The following are the names of some of those who have 
been magnetized by me for diseases: — Eliza Barrett, Abigail 
Wynn, Mrs. Marshall, Deacon E. Barrett, Mrs. Sargent, 
Mrs. Ober, Flora Fuller, Sarah Mevens, Mary Russell, 
Mary M. Kean, Mrs. Ames, Miss Tarbell, Mrs. Adams, 
Rebecca Mclntyre, Miss Woodbury, Mrs. Fern, Mrs. Smith, 
Samuel Lawrence, Sally Putney, Mrs. Shurtliff, Mrs. Frost, 
Mrs. Reed, Miss Noyes, Miss Brigham, Mrs. Merrill, Miss 
Phelps, Susan 'Hartshorn, Moses Saunders, Abigail Gage, 
Almira Cartee, Mrs. Butler, Hannah Conrey, Martha Dunn, 
Miss Adams, Miss Dustin, Mrs. Wilson, Mrs. Cutter. 

I name only those on whom the magnetic action was well 
marked. I have as yet found only two individuals who 
were not susceptible of magnetic influence. 

A list of all who have witnessed my magnetic experi- 
ments, would fill an entire sheet. I will name only Drs. 
Bartlett, and Kimball, of Lowell, Dearborn, of Nashua, 
Ober, of Montville, Maine, Rev. Messrs. Pratt, and Smith, 
of Nashua, Rev. Mr. Porter, of Lowell, Rev. Mr. Carpen- 
ter, of Milford, and Rev. Mr. Pease, of Hudson. To this 
list I could add some hundred of other citizens. 

Yours, 

C. CUTTER. 

P. S. Write me relative to the third number soon, as I 
am having new and interesting cases daily, some of which 
I would communicate if desired. Use any part of the above 
you please. 



APPENDIX. 99 

FROM DOCTOR C APRON. 

Providence, October 10, 1837. 

Dear Sir — As you have requested that, should any thing 
interesting occur in my practice in reference to the subject 
of animal magnetism generally, and especially when reme- 
dially employed, I would communicate the same to append 
to the second part of the work you are publishing, I have 
hastily drawn up the following statement of a few cases, 
which have fallen under my observation. Should you con- 
sider them of sufficient interest to enhance the value of your 
publication, you are at liberty to use them. 

It is not pretended that magnetism has acted as a specific 
in any of these cases ; but that it was a valuable auxiliary 
in the treatment of them, and that it may be employed as 
such in the treatment of diseases generally, does not in my 
mind admit of a doubt. 

Case first, — On the evening of the 25th of last month, I 
was requested to visit Mrs. L., in High-street, who, on the 
previous morning, had had a severe paroxysm of the fever 
and ague. Upon inquiry I found that she was attacked by 
this disease in its usual form the fore part of August, soon 
after returning from a journey in the western country. She 
immediately put herself under the care of skilful physicians, 
and followed their prescriptions about two weeks ; but the 
progress of the disease was not arrested, medicine in this 
case not having its usual beneficial effects. She was ad- 
vised by one of her physicians to have recourse to magnet- 
ism, and Mr. P. was sent for to magnetize her. Having 
magnetized her once to establish the communication, he com- 
menced the second operation as the cold stage of the parox- 
ysm was beginning. In about twenty minutes the patient 
began to feel more comfortable ; in thirty, the cold stage 
had entirely passed off, and was succeeded by an agreea- 
ble glow of heat. The paroxysm in this instance was very 
much shortened in all its stages, and she was soon materi- 
ally improved, though she took but little medicine after this 
time. 



100 APPENDIX. 

Mr. L., her husband, seeing the beneficial effect of these 
two operations, was induced to continue the treatment him- 
self, by magnetizing her daily, and on some days several 
times. While this was continued, she had no return of the 
disease ; but Mr. L.'s business calling him again to the west, 
the treatment was discontinued, and in about three weeks 
she had a relapse of it in a more severe form. The fever 
was of the tertian type, the paroxysms returning every third 
day, and constantly increasing in severity, except an inter- 
ruption of three or four days. 

When I first saw her, about ten o'clock in the evening, 
she was suffering from a violent head-ache. For several 
hours previous she had been delirious from the intensity of 
the fever. Understanding that magnetism had been of 
service to her on a former occasion, I thought it proper to 
make a trial of it, and was gratified with the success of the 
experiment. Her head-ache was cured in a few minutes, 
she became tranquil, the fever in some measure subsided, 
and in a short time I left her comparatively very comforta- 
ble. 

The following day, though somewhat more comfortable, 
her state did not differ materially from what it had usually , 
been on the days when she had been exempt from fever. 
I called on the third day, at the hour when the paroxysm 
was expected to return. The cold stage had begun. The 
hands and feet were cold, and purple under the nails ; the 
surface generally, and especially the nose, was cold and 
contracted. The shaking had not yet commenced. 

Being anxious to put in requisition all the means in my 
power to arrest the paroxysm, I gave a dose of Dover's 
powder, and immediately began to magnetize her. During 
the first twenty minutes there was occasionally a shudder 
from the cold, when she began to feel warm and comforta- 
ble ; and, in a few minutes more, tl\e cold stage had entirely 
subsided, instead of lasting two or three hours as it had 
previously done. The Dover's powder produced slight 
sickness at the stomach, and she vomited once moderately. 
The succeeding hot and sweating stages were almost en- 
tirely prevented, and she was as free from fever and dis- 



APPENDIX. 101 

tress when I left her, an hour after my arrival, as she had 
usually been on the days of the intermission. 

It must be admitted that the medicine given in this in- 
stance probably had some agency in arresting the disease ; 
but if we recollect that when Mr. P. magnetized her the 
same effects precisely were produced, although she took 
no medicine at that time, and that notwithstanding she left 
off taking medicine entirely, the paroxysms did not return 
as long as she continued that treatment, it must certainly be 
admitted that magnetism was the most efficient agent em- 
ployed. It is now thirteen days since I was called to her, 
and she has had no recurrence of the paroxysms except the 
one I have mentioned. Magnetism has not been trusted to 
alone in this case, though it has frequently been practised, 
particularly for the head-ache, to which she has been sub- 
ject, and which it has never failed to relieve in a very few- 
minutes. 

Though Mrs. L. has never been somnambulic, she has 
been generally put into a magnetic sleep, which has been 
very soothing aud restorative. She is now nearly free from 
disease. 

Case second — The second case which I shall mention 
where magnetism has been employed to advantage, is that 
of Mrs. C. This was a case of the most violent distress in 
the head dependant upon a relapse of fever, which partook 
of the irritative rather than of the inflammatory or typhoid 
character. This affection of the head, which was somewhat 
different from the common head-ache, returned with great 
severity every afternoon. The usual remedies, though per- 
severingly employed for four or five days, had failed to give 
much relief. My success in the case of Mrs. L. suggested 
to me the propriety of trying magnetism in this, and I ac- 
cordingly proposed it. At this proposition, Mrs. C. smiled 
with a look of incredulity, having never had the least confi- 
dence in the existence of such an agent. She consented, 
however, to make a trial of it. In five minutes her head 
was relieved; and at the end of twelve or fifteen, was quite 
free from distress. It did not return again that afternoon. 
i* 



102 APPENDIX. 

She has since been magnetized several times, with a similar* 
result. 

In this case it was not carried so far as to produce sleep, 
though there is no doubt that this effect would have been 
produced, had the operation been continued long. Mrs. C. 
has now no doubt of the magnetic influence. 

Case third. — In December last, I was requested to visit 
Miss M., a young lady who had for nearly two years been 
subject to epileptic fits.* During the first year she had only 
three or four, but during the second, they had become more 
frequent, so that she had had three within the two weeks 
immediately preceding my first visit. She was put upon 
such a course of medicine and measures as are usually pre- 
scribed in such cases ; but with only partial success, as she 
continued to have a fit every two months until May. 

A trial was now made of magnetism, and medicines were 
almost wholly discontinued. She was occasionally mag- 
netized for six weeks, at first by myself, and afterwards by 
another gentleman. The whole number of sittings may 
have been twelve or fifteen. While this treatment was 
continued, and for three months afterwards, she had no re- 
currence of the fits. Two weeks ago, however, she had a 
return of the disease. 

Sleep was not induced in this patient, though the mag- 
netic influence was very apparent. The young lady her- 
self is fully sensible of the benefit derived from it ; and had 
the treatment been persevered in, I am persuaded a recur- 
rence would have been prevented. 

Case fourth. — The next case I shall mention is that of 
Miss O., who, if I mistake not, was the first somnambulist 
in this city. This young lady, who had been in delicate 
health for four years, was afflicted with a most distressing 
spasmodic cough, recurring periodically every evening. 
Most of the articles of the materia medica had been em- 
ployed for this cough, without the least benefit, but magnet- 

* See Note 24, for another case of epilepsy. 



APPENDIX. 103 

ism never failed to silence it in a very short time ; on some 
occasions in less than two minutes, as was witnessed by a 
considerable number of the physicians of this place. 

Case fifth. — Some time in the course of the last spring, I 
was called upon to go and extract some teeth for a lady, 
who had been for a number of weeks tormented with that 
worst of all torments, the teeth-ache. It was her desire to 
be put into the magnetic state, that she might not be sensi- 
ble of the pain of extracting. To gratify her, I made the 
experiment, with little confidence of success, I acknowledge. 
I continued the process about half an hour without produc- 
ing sleep. Being fatigued, I discontinued it, and advised her 
to have them extracted in the waking state ; but to my sur- 
prise, her teeth were so effectually relieved from the pain, 
that she considered the operation of extracting unnecessary. 

Three months afterwards she informed me that she had 
had no return of this troublesome affection. 

Case sixth. — While visiting a patient in the westerly part 
of the city a few weeks since, Mrs. J., a lady apparently 
in delicate health, came into the room, who, as I was in- 
formed, had been magnetized, and manifested several of the 
phenomena of somnambulism. After having some conver- 
sation with her, I was anxious to see the character of her 
somnambulism, and she consented to let me magnetize her. 
I put her into a state of somnambulism in a very short time, 
not exceeding fifteen minutes. Considering that she had 
been magnetized only once in several months, and then by 
a different person from the one who first put her asleep, I 
found her powers somewhat extraordinary. In the evening 
of the following day, I was called upon to prescribe for this 
lady in a case of violent pains of a spasmodic character in 
the stomach and bowels. I gave her immediately a dose of 
anodyne medicine, and knowing the influence magnetism 
had had upon her, I thought it proper to try it. About ten 
or twelve minutes after I commenced the manipulations, she 
was entirely free from pain, though not asleep. 



f medic 
M the pain return. S :hat 

id ratals soqd after the 

n with only partial a the 

idant upon the 
- rational to n of the 

s j ipt than thr. 

the rirst. anody: :nulating upon the - 

D this place that this lady sul 
onned n :ring when I fin 

Mtened with the indis; 
:h I was after wards led to f ceri- 

d alleviation, thor., not mentio the 

I to 

..rticulars of he. ng her. 

a informed me that some time in the latter part of 
the first of April last, she was magnetized by I 
H, a Uirii She did not t 

bmitted to it, rather to convince the gentleman, 
who rf his error, than from the 

pectation of re. my ben m it ; but, to h 

::er tu- 
ners palpitation which had 
s rendered her life miserable and apparently 
Bq m deed m hat she 
had no; ear or more been abl 

ilk an eighth of a mile, without stopping to re. 

Gran the ag ;asioned by :rtion. 

It months tized, dur- 

:h time she has been entirely from the com- 

:it, with the :hin the 

nth. — T ntieth of September, I received a 

message to visit Mr. D.. a gentleman who has a painfu" 

o{ the hip and back. 1 a number of times 

been re from I 



APPENDIX. 105 

magnetized by Mr. P., he was desirous of continuing this 
treatment, with the hope not only of relief, but of a perma- 
nent cure. 

Upon examination, I found his disease to be one not likely 
to be cured by magnetism alone, and advised him to an ef- 
ficient surgical course of treatment. I however magnet- 
ized him a number of times, and always with some mitiga- 
tion of his sufferings. He was not put into a sound mag- 
netic sleep, but the influence was certain. 

Case eighth. — I magnetized a young lady for a distress- 
ing affection of the whole nervous system, attended with 
erratic pains in the head and eyes, wakefulness, and disturb- 
ed and unrefreshing slumbers. The optic nerves partici- 
pated in this affection to such a degree that she apprehend- 
ed a total loss of vision. She was frequently annoyed by 
the appearance of dark motes floating before her eyes, and 
other ocular spectra, as is frequently observed in cases of 
incipient amaurosis. The number of sittings was twelve; 
and the benefit to her general health was unequivocal. Her 
nervous system was soothed and strengthened, and her 
slumbers became calm and restorative. The effects of 
magnetism in this case were somewhat peculiar ; for though 
her physical system was completely under its influence, her 
mental faculties continued wakeful, and her senses were un- 
usually acute. When apparently in a sleeping state, she 
was perfectly conscious of her situation, which is not usual 
in somnambulism, or in ordinary sleep. 

This case is reported to show the influence exerted by 
magnetism upon the system generally, and especially in 
affections of the nerves. 

Case ninth. — In answer to an inquiry in your note of the 
8th instant, respecting the health of Miss Brackett, it gives 
me much pleasure to inform you that notwithstanding an 
alarming general indisposition of two or three weeks con- 
tinuance, her vision is still improving. She believes her- 
self capable of walking the streets safely without a guide ; 
she can judge of the comparative size of even small objects, 



106 APPENDIX. 

and readily distinguish colors when there is a strong con- 
trast. 

Her present indisposition has proceeded from an acci- 
dental cause. It has been of a highly imflammatory na- 
ture, and when she was in a waking state, attended with 
great pain and suffering. Under these circumstances, mag- 
netism has been invaluable to her, as it has never failed to 
render her insensible to suffering, and has wholly superseded 
the disagreeable necessity of giving opiates. She is now 
convalescent, and we hope soon to see her not only in the 
enjoyment of good general health, but in the full possession 
of that most useful as well as delightful of our senses, vision. 

The subjects of all the above cases are respectable and 
intelligent persons living in this city ; and most of them may 
be referred to, should any one have a particular interest in 
obtaining further information in relation to them. 

With much respect, 

• G. CAPRON. 
Mr. T. C. Hartshorn. 



Note 28. 

Deleuze remarks, in the chapter on somnambulism, at 
the 83d page, " Somnambulists whose interior faculties have 
acquired great. energy, are often found in a frame of mind 
of which you might avail yourself advantageously to make 
them follow a course of regimen, or do things useful to them, 
but contrary to their inclinations. The magnetizer can, 
after it has been mutually agreed upon, impress upon them, 
while in the somnambulic state, an idea or a determination 
which will influence them in the natural state, without their 
knowing the cause." He then gives instances to show in 
what cases this influence may be exerted. Following up 
this intimation, the author of the following letter, who is 
acquainted with this work in the original, has arrived at 



APPENDIX. 107 

some important results in verification of what Deleuze and 
other writers have stated in reference to this curious branch 
of the subject. 

FROM DOCTOR ROBBINS. 

Uxbridge, Oct. 3d, 1837. 

Dear Sir — I had the pleasure some days ago of receiving 
a copy of the first part of your work, and the accompanying 
letter. I am particularly pleased with the execution and 
the whole character of this specimen of the performance. 
I feel that when completed it will render the subject strong 
in ample evidence both of its power and its utility. You 
are at liberty to publish the subjoined article if it meets 
your purpose. 

Yours respectfully, 

J. W. ROBBINS. 

CORRECTION OF THE HABITS OF SOMNAMBULISTS. 

The influence which the magnetizer, with the consent of 
the somnambulist, is able through his somnambulism to 
exert upon his waking state, may be readily proved by a 
variety of experiments of pure curiosity ; but the magnet- 
izer should seldom indulge in such kind of experimenting. 
This power may, however, be frequently rendered highly 
useful in the correction of habits — and those not only bod- 
ily, but mental. The following instances where the writer 
has with some success employed this influence for the ben- 
efit of his patients, may serve as illustrations of this power, 
and may induce magnetizers to have recourse in all similar 
cases to its exercise. 

One individual, of a highly nervous temperament, and 
much affected with dyspepsia, had at times a craving al- 
most irresistible for certain fruits and aliments, which were 
sure to distress her stomach and aggravate her nervous 
symptoms. Having upon my first essay of magnetism 
with great facility induced somnambulism, I resolved to 
make trial of this power ; with little confidence, however, 



108 APPENDIX. > 

in the success of the attempt, impossible as it had been to 
restrain her in the use of those articles. I accordingly en- 
joined upon her in the most impressive manner not to in- 
dulge herself in their use. The day following, having pro- 
cured an apple, she wished to eat it, but found herself under 
the control of a mysterious influence which rendered it mor- 
ally impossible. It seemed to her that a person told her 
while asleep not to eat such things, " and," said she, " I do 
not think I shall be able to eat one all summer." 

I soon found that I had not included in my prohibition 
one important item, namely, tea, in the use of whieh she 
had for years been in the practice of freely indulging, and 
which I believed to exert so unfavorable an influence upon 
her nerves, that I had for a long time employed every 
means to induce her to abandon it, but without success. I 
therefore issued the order, and, as every law has usually 
its appropriate penalty, I annexed it as follows, namely, 
that the use of the smallest quantity should be followed by 
nausea. The experiment was perfectly successful, all 
succeeding attempts to take tea being followed by distress- 
ing sickness. As long as she remained in the family where 
she then was, she continued unable to take either tea, or 
the interdicted articles of food. I was two months after- 
wards informed that those habits remained corrected, and it 
is to be hoped that they are permanently cured. 

Another somnambulist I had observed to have the habit 
of conveying air into the stomach in the act of swallowing. 
Suspecting that the practice tended to increase the distress 
which she sometimes experienced at the stomach, I directed 
her to swallow no more air, or, if she did so, that she should 
be seized with a pain in the throat. This pain was actually 
observed by the inmates of the family where she was 
boarding, to seize her twice on the day following, and she 
afterwards informed me in somnambulism, that she believed 
she was getting cured of the habit. 

A third patient had long indulged freely in the use of tea 
and coffee, and they had become, as she supposed, absolutely 
necessary to enable her to continue her labor. Endowed, 
as she was in her somnambulism, with the faculty of pre- 



APPENDIX. 109 

vision of a character almost perfect in regard to the exacer- 
bations of her own disease, and the effects which were to 
result from different agents, I desired her to examine the 
influence upon her system of tea and coffee. The result 
of her examination was an acknowledgment of their bad 
effect, and her consent that I should break her of the habit 
of using them. I accordingly issued the prohibition, ac- 
companied with the penalty that they should taste unpleas- 
antly, and be followed by nausea. The next day, to her 
utter astonishment, (for she retained while awake no trace 
of what had occurred in her somnambulism,) both her tea 
and coffee were not only offensive to her taste, but the 
forced introduction of small quantities into the stomach from 
the conviction that she could not do without them, was fol- 
lowed by distressing sickness of considerable duration. 
The various attempts which she has at intervals made to 
take them have for months been followed by the same re- 
sults. 

A similar course was subsequently pursued in regard to 
snuff. She had long been in the habit of using this arti- 
cle in considerable quantities. The result of her examina- 
tion of it during her somnambulism was that it was deci- 
dedly prejudicial, but that its use ought not to be at once 
abandoned. She accordingly consented that I should re- 
strict her to the use of six pinches daily. I did so, adding 
the injunction that whatever she should take beyond the 
prescribed number should seem extremely nauseous and 
offensive. She assented, but went on for some time after 
waking, in its use as before. At length, after taking a pinch, 
the sudden contortions of her countenance, and her strong 
exclamations of loathing and disgust, plainly indicated what 
had occurred. She had unwittingly transgressed her lim- 
its ; she had taken the prohibited pinch, and could take no 
more during the day. The following day she could take it, 
but her passion for it daily diminished, as she was several 
times dreadfully annoyed by the seventh pinch. The habit 
was thus entirely broken, and but a trifle in comparison, has 
been used in several months. She attributed the effect to 
the constant use of magnetized water. 

K 



112 APPENDIX. 

incisors cut off to a level with the gums, and holes v. 
drilled into the roots of them, preparatory to inserting arti- 
ficial ones. She afterwards had seven artificial teeth in- 
serted. The operation was not all performed at one time, 
but at two or three different sittings. Every part of the 
work usually attended with any pain, was done while 
was asleep ; and, according to all appearances, and her 
own testimony, she was not sensible of any pain. 

She was several times asked by Dr. Brownell, during 
the most painful part of the operation, if it hurt her ; she 
ys replied by saying, u Does what hurt ?" 

W. T. ESTEN. 

Mr. T. C. Hartshorn. 

The readers of the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal 
will remember a similar case detailed at length by Dr. Ben- 
jamin H. West, in the twenty-second number of the four- 
teenth volume of that valuable work. The operation - 
performed by Dr. Harwood, Surgeon Dentist, or; an epileptic 
patient of Monsieur Bugard, an accomplished French tee 
er of that city, in the presence of Professor Tread well, of 
Harvard University, Doctors Ware, Lewis, Lodge, A. 
D. Parker, Esq., and Messrs. Ware, and West, medical 
students. The latter gentleman, the writer of the article, 
had previously extracted a molar tooth from the same pa- 
tient, who was a girl of nearly thirteen years old, without 
producing the slightest indication of feeling on her part. 

Trie Taunton Whig, of September 13th, gives an account 
of a similar operation by Dr. Nahum Washburn, upon an 
intelligent young gentleman, now a medical student of that 
town. The character of the witnesses who are named, pre- 
cludes the possibility of a doubt in regard to the literal cor- 
rectness of the relation. It is bo it singular that in 
Taunton almost all the somnambulists are men. 

A gentleman who had a carious tooth, was desirous of 

ngit extracted while under the magnetic influence, and 

seated himself for that purpose. He was put into a state of 

perfect magnetic sleep in the course of five minutes, at a 



APPENDIX. 



113 



distance of eight feet, by a friend who had magnetized him 
many times before. In that state he remarked that the room 
was too light, and a silk handkerchief was therefore bound 
over his already closed eyelids. Being then asked if he 
wished to have his tooth extracted, he answered that he did. 
After a lapse of a few minutes, the magnetizer, standing at 
a distance, willed him to open his mouth, which he did, ask- 
ing at the same time if it was wide enough. 

" The magnetizer then retired to an adjoining room, and 
the operation was performed during his absence.* I was 
near the patient, watched him closely, and did not observe 
any sign of suffering. There was not the slightest contrac- 
tion of a muscle either of his face or limbs during the oper- 
ation ; no change of the countenance or of the respiration. 
His whole body remained as perfectly composed as in the 
most quiet natural sleep. A bowl was placed under his 
chin, but he made no effort to free his mouth from the blood 
which flowed out between his lips, until the magnetizer re- 
turned, and loilled him to do so. 

" He inquired ' what made him spit so much ;' and shortly 
after complained of the 'stuff running down his throat.' 
Being asked what it was, he replied, after tasting, that he 
1 did not know.' 



* Dr. Cleveland, of Pawtuxet, mentioned to the translator a cu- 
rious fact, which fully agrees with what has been asserted in a pre- 
vious note, namely, the somnambulist always appears to know what 
his magnetizer is doing. 

Having put one of his patients into the somnambulic state, for 
the purpose of performing a slight surgical operation, he found that 
he could not do it himself, because the patient, though insensible to 
the touch of others, exhibited towards himself a perfect conscious- 
ness and sensibility, which he could not annihilate long enough to 
continue the operation. The moment his mind was fixed upon the 
object, it was withdrawn from the exertion of the will, so that con- 
sciousness and sensation instantly returned to baffle his purpose. 
It may be further observed, that in Cloquet's excision of a cancer- 
ated ulcer, mentioned in part first, the patient was magnetized by 
another person. If this should be discovered to be a general prin- 
ciple, we shall see one more reason for Deleuze's instruction to keep 
the intention well sustained. 



112 APPENDIX. 

incisors cut off to a level with the gums, and holes were 
drilled into the roots of them, preparatory to inserting arti- 
ficial ones. She afterwards had seven artificial teeth in- 
serted. The operation was not all performed at one time, 
but at two or three different sittings. Every part of the 
work usually attended with any pain, was done while she 
was asleep ; and, according to all appearances, and her 
own testimony, she was not sensible of any pain. 

She was several times asked by Dr. Brownell, during 
the most painful part of the operation, if it hurt her ; she 
always replied by saying, '" Does what hurt?" 

W. T. ESTEN. 
Mr. T. C. Hartshorn. 

The readers of the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal 
will remember a similar case detailed at length by Dr. Ben- 
jamin H. West, in the twenty-second number of the four- 
teenth volume of that valuable work. The operation was 
performed by Dr. Harwood, Surgeon Dentist, on an epileptic 
patient of Monsieur Bugard, an accomplished French teach- 
er of that city, in the presence of Professor Treadwell, of 
Harvard University, Doctors Ware, Lewis, Lodge, A. 
D. Parker, Esq., and Messrs. Ware, and West, medical 
students. The latter gentleman, the writer of the article, 
had previously extracted a molar tooth from the same pa- 
tient, who was' a girl of nearly thirteen years old, without 
producing the slightest indication of feeling on her part. 

The Taunton Whig, of September 13th, gives an account 
of a similar operation by Dr. Nahum Washburn, upon an 
intelligent young gentleman, now a medical student of that 
town." The character of the witnesses who are named, pre- 
cludes the possibility of a doubt in regard to the literal cor- 
rectness of the relation. It is somewhat singular that in 
Taunton almost all the somnambulists are men. 

" A gentleman who had a carious tooth, was desirous of 
having it extracted while under the magnetic influence, and 
seated himself for that purpose. He was put into a state of 
perfect magnetic sleep in the course of five minutes, at a 



APPENDIX, 



113 



distance of eight feet, by a friend who had magnetized him 
many times before. In that state he remarked that the room 
was too light, and a silk handkerchief was therefore bound 
over his already closed eyelids. Being then asked if he 
wished to have his tooth extracted, he answered that he did. 
After a lapse of a few minutes, the magnetizer, standing at 
a distance, willed him to open his mouth, which he did, ask- 
ing at the same time if it was wide enough. 

« The magnetizer then retired to an adjoining room, and 
the operation was performed during his absence.* I was 
near the patient, watched him closely, and did not observe 
any sign of suffering. There was not the slightest contrac- 
tion of a muscle either of his face or limbs during the oper- 
ation ; no change of the countenance or of the respiration. 
His whole body remained as perfectly composed as in the 
most quiet natural sleep. A bowl was placed under his 
chin, but he made no effort to free his mouth from the blood 
which flowed out between his lips, until the magnetizer re- 
turned, and ivilled him to do so. 

" He inquired ' what made him spit so much ;' and shortly 
after complained of the ' stuff running down his throat.' 
Being asked what it was, he replied, after tasting, that he 
' did not know.' 



* Dr. Cleveland, of Pawtuxet, mentioned to the translator a cu- 
rious fact, which fully agrees with what has been asserted in a pre- 
vious note, namely, the somnambulist always appears to know what 
his magnetizer is doing. 

Having put one of his patients into the somnambulic state, for 
the purpose of performing a slight surgical operation, he found that 
he could not do it himself, because the patient, though insensible to 
the touch of others, exhibited towards himself a perfect conscious, 
ness and sensibility, which he could not annihilate long enough to 
continue the operation. The moment his mind was fixed upon the 
object, it was withdrawn from the exertion of the will, so that con- 
sciousness and sensation instantly returned to baffle his purpose. 
It may be further observed, that in Cloquet's excision of a cancer- 
ated ulcer, mentioned in part first, the patient was magnetized by 
another person. If this should be discovered to be a general prin- 
ciple, we shall see one more reason for Deleuze's instruction to keep 
the intention well sustained* 

K* 



H4 APPENDIX, 



" He was permitted to sleep a few minutes more, when the 
magnetizer went into an adjoining room, and willed him to 
awake m ten minutes. In precisely that time there was a 
considerable movement of the eyelids. The sleep continued 
three minutes longer. 

Soon after awaking, he observed the bowl containing the 
blood, in a chair by his side, and immediately placing his 
finger upon the cavity, asked with the appearance of great 
surprise, if his tooth had been extracted. He declared that 
he was not until then aware that the operation had been 
performed. 

" The tooth was a large one, had two stout fangs, and 
came out unusually hard. It was one of the molar teeth of 
the under jaw. 

" I have shown this communication to Messrs. C. R. At- 
wood, Hiram M. Barney, Samuel C. West, Horatio Gilbert, 
Francis S. Munroe, and Jonathan Hodges, who were pres- 
ent, and to Dr. Nahum Washburn, who operated, and have 
their authority to state that it is an accurate recital of the 
incidents of the scene." q 



Note 30. 

^ The following letters are inserted for the purpose of grat- 
ifying a rational curiosity in regard to the wayfarings of 
the spirit in somnambulism. Many others are in prepara- 
tion for the third part. They are from gentlemen who are 
well known in this quarter, and their authority is second to 
none which can be produced. The reflecting mind will find 
in them enough to excite activity of thought, and the most 
sensual, enough to be kindled into a spiritual flame, though 
it flicker and be temporary in its rising. That the human 
spirit hath power to leave the body and take cognisance of 
things distant in space, is but an elementary truth in this 
branch of psychology. He who cannot grasp the evidence 
on which it rests, with a firm hold, will find himself con- 
stantly vacillating between belief and incontinence of faith ; 



APPENDIX. 115 

but he who has once weighed it, and suffered the conviction 
to produce its legitimate effect, will find his notions of things 
to come, quickened and informed, and be happy in the con- 
sciousness of immortality. For if we are convinced that 
the spirit can be absent or partially absent from the body, 
and while deriving little or no sensation from it, be engaged 
in real scenes in other climes, we are furnished with the j 
aliment which strengthens our conceptions of a separate spir- 
itual existence, so that the doctrine of a future state appears 
to be consequent upon our nature, if not susceptible of direct 
proof. 

FROM E. L. FROTHINGHAM, ESQ. 

Boston, Oct. 3, 1837. 

Dear Sir — I have just received your note of the 30th 
ult., containing a request that I should send to you some 
account of my experience in animal magnetism, while on a 
visit to Providence in August last. You are perfectly wel- 
come to all my experience, and should be still more wel- 
come w r ere it of greater importance. The facts which I 
have to state are more general in their character, and of 
course less satisfactory in some respects, than they would 
have been, had I not been so limited in time. On this ac- 
count they may not be thought of sufficient importance to 
require their publicity ; as many others may be furnished, 
if I may judge from what I have heard related by others, 
which are much more circumstantial, and therefore more 
generally interesting. 

Hearing from many sources of the wonders of animal 
magnetism previous to my visit to Providence, and being 
anxious to satisfy myself of the real or visionary character 
of these phenomena, on my arrival there, I obtained an in- 
troduction to Dr. CaprVn, who, upon being made acquainted 
with my wishes, very politely expressed a willingness to 
gratify my curiosity, and appointed a meeting for this pur- 
pose on the afternoon of the next day. At the time ap- 
pointed I was introduced to Miss JBrackett, the interesting 
young woman whose case you have laid before the public. 



116 APPENDIX. 

After the process of magnetizing had been completed, she, 
at the request of Dr. Capron, rose from her chair, to which 
she had been previously led in a helpless state, walked 
through the room with the greatest confidence, avoiding the 
chairs which stood in her way, and passed into the next 
room. In a few moments she returned, equipped for a 
walk, and, accompanied by one of the family, but without 
any assistance, passed rapidly down a flight of stone steps 
into the street, and disappeared. The change from sight- 
less helplessness to clear-sighted confidence, was remarkably 
striking. In a few moments we followed, and on stopping 
at the house where she had been directed to go, we found 
this blind young lady, now endowed with more than natural 
sight, running through the house like a young girl let loose 
from school on a holiday, and examining pictures in a very 
novel manner, by placing her back towards them. 

After being seated, she, at the request of Dr. Capron, 
agreed to accompany him to Boston. For being a stran- 
ger to her, and unaccustomed to such odd ways of travelling, 
I did not feel myself competent to take charge of her. The 
journey to Boston was accomplished in about one minute, 
passing, as she said, through the air, on a line with the rail 
road. On arriving at the depot in Boston, she was directed 
through several streets, complaining all the while of being 
jostled by the crowd, to my residence. She described cor- 
rectly the external appearance of the house, and upon en- 
tering, three members of my family in a very particular and 
correct manner, even some particular points of dress quite 
unusual, which upon my return to Boston I found to have 
been correct. I also ascertained that the individuals of the 
family not described by her, were absent at that time. 
From some cause, however, nothing more could be extract- 
ed from her, the answer to all questions being, " You can 
see them as well as I." As she appeared to be so uncom- 
municative, a second meeting was appointed to take place 
on the evening of the following day, which I attended with 
a friend, Mr. Nathaniel W. Brown, of your city, being 
the only individuals present at this experiment, excepting 
the members of the familv. 



APPENDIX. 117 

Miss Brackett appeared to be in the magnetic sleep 
when we arrived. In a few moments after, Dr. Capron, 
having other engagements for the evening, left the house, 
placing Mr. B. and myself in communication with Miss 
Brackett, and directing her to wake at half past 9 o'clock. 
As some time was consumed in visiting Mr. B.'s house, 
which resulted very satisfactorily to him, there was some- 
thing less than an hour left at my disposal previous to the 
time set for the termination of her sleep. This, you must 
be aware, was altogether insufficient for a full experiment, 
as it is impossible in these cases to hurry any thing ; and 
this, joined to that unwillingness to describe formerly allu- 
ded to, renders the facts obtained less particular and numer- 
ous than I ^ wished. However, although not fruitful in par- 
ticulars, this experiment may be found to illustrate some 
principles in the most striking manner ; and this, after all, 
is the principal object. 

The same process was employed in accomplishing the 
journey to my house in Boston as before, and her descrip- 
tion of its external appearance was in the same words. 

Upon entering the house, she described a painted carpet 
and a very peculiar table which were in the entry. As 
she said there was no individual in the lower part of the 
house, I invited her up stairs into the parlor. In this room, 
without any leading questions being put to her, she described 
many of the principal articles of furniture, ornaments, and 
pictures, in the order in which they are placed in the room, 
and in such a manner that each article was immediately 
recognised by me, although her descriptions were general. 
Upon entering the room I asked her to tell me what there 
was in it that pleased her. She immediately commenced 
describing a figure with her hand, as if passing over a solid 
smooth substance. " What are you looking at ?" " Why ' 
this portrait." "What kind of a portrait is it ?" " Why, it 
is white ; how smooth it is !" " How heavy is it ?" " It is 
very heavy. I should think it was marble." " What kind 
of a shelf does it stand upon?" " It does not stand upon any 
shelf; cut on a projection from the fire-place." This was 
her description of a marble bust, weighing not far from one 



118 APPENDIX. 

hundred weight, standing upon a doric stove, which pro- 
jects into the room. She distinguished differences of size, 
figure, weight, color, and surface, (as smooth or rough,) in 
the articles which she described ; and although many things 
were omitted, and some only partially indicated, not the 
slightest mistake was made, although many attempts were made 
to mislead her. The subject of two pictures, which she very 
obstinately refused to give me a description of, she very 
readily described to me when she awoke. In this room, 
she recognised my daughter, and said she had seen her be- 
fore, but could find no other person in the house. I then 
asked her to pass into the chamber, and look for the child- 
ren. After a moment's pause, she stooped over and turned 
her hand, as if turning down the clothes of a bed, and said 
there was a child asleep ; but that his head was entirely 
covered with clothes. At this she seemed quite disturbed. 
She said the child was very uncomfortable, and that " it 
was not healthy to be so covered up." 

As there was now very little time to spare, I said, " Let 
us go down stairs ; perhaps we shall now be able to find 
the rest of the family." In a moment she said, " Good 
evening." (3n asking her whom she saw in the room be- 
low, she described three individuals, two of whom she re- 
cognised as having seen the day. before, and the other as 
an elderly Quaker lady, whose very peculiar dress she de- 
scribed with the greatest accuracy, and with considerable 
humor. This was the close of my experiment, as the time 
fixed by Dr. Capron for her to awake was near at hand ; 
and I hastened to conduct her back to Providence. I ar- 
rived at the end of my imaginary journey just as the time 
expired, at which moment she awoke. On my return home, 
I ascertained that all her descriptions relating to the individ- 
uals of my family, were perfectly correct. 

At the time of our supposed visit, my daughter was alone 
in the house, with the exception of the children, who were 
in bed, and sitting in the room where she was described to 
be. The other three members of the family did return 
about the time at which our experiments concluded, and 
were in the lower room, as described by Miss Brackett. 



APPENDIX. 119 

Furthermore, Mrs. F., on visiting the little boy on her re- 
turn, found him in precisely the uncomfortable situation, 
which so much distressed the sympathetic invisible visitant. 
You will excuse me from making any observations or 
offering any opinion upon these remarkable phenomena. 
As facts, you are perfectly welcome to them, and to make 
what use of them you please ; being satisfied that all re- 
markable facts, but particularly those of a character not 
referrible to any known principle, should be made public. 

Yours truly, 

E. L. FROTHINGHAM. 

Mr. T. C. Hartshorn. 



FROM MONS. B. F. BUGARD. 

Boston, October 10th, 1837. 
Mr. T. C. Hartshorn, 

Dear Sir — I do not delay a moment to answer yours of 
the 7th inst. At another time you shall hear from me again ; 
at present I will relate a fact about a somnambulist. 

About three months ago I went to the house of Mr. L., to 
spend an evening. I found him and his lady at home, and 
with them their son A., Mrs. C: a French lady, and Mr. G., 
a friend of mine. Mrs. C, not feeling very well, one of the 
company suggested to me that I ought to magnetize her. 
Having offered my services to relieve her in that way, she 
accepted the offer. I put her asleep in less than five min- 
utes. As it generally, though not always, happens in such 
cases, she answered all my questions. 

This lady has come to this country with her husband, 
leaving in Paris her mother and three children. After a 
little conversation, during which she drank some tea, I sent 
her home to Paris to look after her family there. She an- 
swered a question in relation to their health, by saying that 
her eldest daughter was not well, but was affected with sore 



120 APPENDIX. 

eyes ; that a certain physician was in attendance, whom she 
named distinctly, but whose name is at this moment out of 
my memory ; that her second daughter had a cold, and that 
her little son was perfectly well. 

Upon asking her whether her mother had attended 
church during the day, it being Sunday, she replied that 
she attended in the morning, but not in the afternoon. On 
being requested to look at the clock, and tell the time, she 
replied without hesitation, "four o'clock;" and on making 
the calculation myself, I found her to be correct.* 

I soon after awoke her by the mere exertion of my will. 
She was not aware of having taken any tea, and although 
she put the question to every one in turn whether she had 
taken any, she remained unconvinced of what she had act- 
ually done. 

About five or six weeks after this experiment, Mrs. C. 
received a letter from her mother, confirming every particu- 
lar she had said concerning her children. 

I would observe that when awake, I asked her what 
o'clock she thought it then was at Paris. She was obliged 
to calculate, and in giving the answer she was far from be- 
ing positive. -If any one desires to know who these persons 
are whose initials only are given, I shall at any time be 
ready to give them, together with such additional proof as 
may be wanted. 

I am, 
Your obedient servant, 

B. F. BUGARD. 



* I have tried this experiment by sending several somnambulists 
far to the west. The result showed a correspondence between the 
time and the longitude, though the signification of the latter word 
was unknown to two of them. I began a correspondence with a 
friend to test clairvoyance at the distance of a thousand miles ; but 
because the first visits were unsuccesful, my friend sunk, like an- 
cient Peter, through the want of faith, and all his subsequent let- 
ters have miscarried. — Trans, 



CHAPTER VII. 

OF THE INCONVENIENCES, THE ABUSES, AND THE 

DANGERS OF MAGNETISM, AND OF THE 

MEANS OF PREVENTING THEM. 

The opposers of magnetism, after declaring that it does 
not exist, have declaimed against the dangers which attend 
it. I will not stop to prove that what they have said of the 
processes employed to put it in action, and of the effects it 
produces, is very far from the truth, and that the anecdotes 
they have cited to render it odious, are entirely foreign to 
it. I agree that magnetism has been sometimes abused, and 
is still liable to be abused again. But a danger ceases to 
be important, when we are warned of it, and have easy and 
certain means of avoiding it. Magnetism is an agent of 
inconceivable power. Its utility depends upon the way in 
which it is employed; and in this it is like fire, the use of 
which is not interdicted for fear of conflagration. 

They who will conform to the doctrine laid down in the 
preceding chapters, will never have occasion to fear the 
least inconvenience from the use of magnetism. Yet as 
many of my readers may not see the importance of the 
precautions I have recommended, as others may be alarmed 
by what has been said of the bad consequences of some 
treatments, as others, finally, may reproach me with having 
misstated the motives of those who condemn magnetism, I 
think it proper to devote an article to recapitulate and 
develope what has been said on this subject. I would 



180 MEANS OF AVOIDING [CHAP. VII. 

rather fall into repetitions, than leave the least uncertainty 
about things which are essential. I am now going to point 
out the inconveniences, the abuses, and the dangers of mag- 
netism, and I will show that all, without exception, will be 
infallibly avoided by applying the principles which I have 
established. 

To obtain more order and clearness in this discussion, I 
will consider magnetism under three points of view ; and I 
will speak, first, of the moral dangers which may attend the 
practice ; secondly, of the disorder which a wrong direction 
of this agent, or the want of some essential conditions, may 
produce in the animal economy ; thirdly, of the inconven- 
iences which spring from a blind confidence in somnambu- 
lists, and from the erroneous opinions to which a person is 
sometimes conducted by a sight of extraordinary phenomena. 

1. Of the moral dangers of magnetism, and of the means 
of obviating them. 

In describing the processes, 1 said that we might employ 
light frictions, the application of the hands upon the chest, 
upon the heart, upon the knees, blowing with the mouth, 
looking steadily at the patient, &c; but I also said that 
these processes pointed out as the most active, may be laid 
aside for others, which, sustained by the will and the atten- 
tion, will be equally efficacious. When a man is desired 
to magnetize a woman who is ill, he ought to avoid what- 
ever may wound the most scrupulous modesty, or cause the 
least embarassment, and even whatever might to a spectator 
seem improper. He will not place himself directly in front 
of the person whom he intends to magnetize ; he will not 
request her to look at him; he will merely ask her to 



CHAP. VII.] ITS DANGERS AND ABUSES. 181 

abandon herself entirely to the influence of the action ; he 
will take her thumbs during some moments, and he will 
then make passes at a distance without touching her. It is 
unnecessary to observe that some one of the family or a 
female friend ought always to be present. 

If the magnetic processes are attended with any incon- 
veniences, it is neither in society, where one is obliged to 
avoid impropriety of conduct, nor in the public treatments, 
where all things are ordered in a decent manner. It is in 
the hospitals, and I ought to fix the attention of superintend- 
ing physicians upon this point ; not that they should restrain 
the employment of this salutary agent, but that they should 
direct and oversee the method of employing it ; for it will 
be their fault if any thing reprehensible should be mingled 
with the good which ought to be derived from it. I will 
explain. 

Physicians and medical students attached to the hospitals, 
are now beginning to try the action of magnetism. They 
choose in preference young women or young girls attacked 
with nervous diseases, because they believe them more sus- 
ceptible, and more likely to present curious phenomena. 
As they are accustomed to touch indiscriminately all the 
patients, either to ascertain the seat of disease, or to dress 
-their wounds and ulcers, and as they never have any other 
idea than that of fulfilling the duties with which they are 
charged, they do not suspect that the magnetic processes 
demand a particular reserve, and precautions taken before- 
hand to banish every thing which might act upon their 
imagination or upon that of the patient. I am willing to 
believe that they respect themselves so much as never to 
permit the least thing injurious to modesty, and to repel 
every thought foreign to the end proposed ; but the very 



182 MEANS OF AVOIDING [CHAP. VII. 

effort which is made to chase away an intrusive idea, turns 
one aside from the object which alone ought to occupy the 
attention. They ought therefore to distrust themselves, to 
dread equally the impressions which they can experience, 
and those which they can produce, and to take measures in 
advance, so that nothing shall trouble the purity of an in- 
fluence which has at the same time both a physical and a 
moral effect. 

These are the counsels which I ought to give in relation 
to this subject, until magnetism is so generally known, es- 
tablished, and practised, as to render them unnecessary. 

When a physician intends to magnetize a woman who 
keeps her bed, the clothes ought to be kept over her. If 
she can rise, she ought to be clad in the most decent man- 
ner. The physician will not touch her except to take her 
thumbs, or to make frictions along the feet outside of her 
garments. All the passes will be made at a distance. It 
is often necessary to concentrate the action upon an organ ; 
for example, upon the solar plexus, the liver, or the spleen. 
In this case he will present the fingers brought to a point, 
or else he will make use of a glass or steel rod, in order to 
avoid touching. It would be proper to have a nurse near 
the bed during the sitting. No person should enter the 
room. The magnetizer should not permit himself to make 
any experiment, and if he obtains somnambulism, he will 
ask the patient only about her disease, and the means of 
curing it. He will give an account to the chief physician 
of the results of the treatment. 

It may happen that a nurse, endowed with intelligence 
and kindness, may perceive with her own eyes, the efficacy 
of magnetism, and feel the desire and the power of doing 
good. In this case, the magnetizer will excite her confi- 



CHAP. VII.] ITS DANGERS AND ABUSES. 183 

dence, and get her to take his place after giving her suita- 
ble instructions how to proceed. He will always recom- 
mend to her not to speak. The time is not yet arrived for 
nurses to consider the exercise of magnetism as one of their 
most important functions. 

I have here spoken of the employment of this agent in 
the hospitals merely because several trials have been re- 
cently made of it there.* I suppose that if the young phy- 
sicians continue to occupy themselves with it, they will not 
neglect to learn the conditions essential to the success of 
the trials which they would make to furnish a powerful 
auxiliary to therapeutic medicine. 

Let us return to the employment of magnetism in society. 
The precautions already pointed out will suffice to banish 
all the inconveniences attending it, when it is merely intend- 
ed to make use of it several days, and when neither som- 
nambulism nor magnetic sleep presents itself. But there 
must necessarily be many others in chronic complaints 
which appear to require a very long treatment, and whose 
cure is preceded by crises and by a decided magnetic 
state. 

In these kinds of diseases, magnetism between persons of 
different sexes ought to be proscribed, unless the principles 
and morals of the two individuals prevent the fear of an im- 
proper influence. The only men who can undertake the 
treatment of a young woman are the father or the husband. 

* It is now used in them very extensively in many parts of Eu- 
rope. Sir David Brewster says that the medical colleges in Ger* 
many have professors whose business it is to deliver lectures on 
this subject in its connexion with medicine. I have learned the 
same fact from an intelligent German, and from several travellers. 
— Trans. 
Q* 



184 MEANS OF AVOIDING [CHAP. VII. 

I have told the reason in another place. I think it useless 
to go into greater details. I ought only to point out the ex- 
ceptions to what I have given as a general rule. 

These are to be sought in the advanced age of one of the 
parties ; and in the difference of circumstances in which 
they are found. 

I foresee that some one will seek to put me in contradic- 
tion with myself. " You have," says one, " an hundred 
times uttered the wish that physicians only would make use 
of magnetism ; how then can women be magnetized unless 
by men ?" This is my reply. 

It is to be desired that experienced physicians only should 
be charged with the direction of the magnetic treatments ; 
but it is one thing to have the direction of a treatment, and 
another, to perform the manipulatory processes. 

A physician might gather round a magnetic reservoir a 
great number of sick persons of all ages and of each sex, 
and devote his • cares to each one according to circum- 
stances ; but he cannot charge himself with a direct treat- 
ment, but by observing all the proprieties, by banishing all 
the possible dangers, and preventing even ill-founded sus- 
picions. He must therefore cause another person to take 
his place to magnetize a female patient, and choose for this 
purpose a woman instructed by him how to proceed, and 
having equally the confidence of himself and that of the pa- 
tient. 

I say more ; when magnetism shall be generally recog- 
nised, when it shall become an essential part of medicine, 
and this time is perhaps not far distant, the physician who 
has an extensive practice, will have two treatments, one for 
men, and another for women. He will thus avoid affording 
occasion for improper remarks. 



CHAP. VII.] ITS DANGERS AND ABUSES. 185 

As magnetism establishes confidence and friendship be- 
tween the magnetizer and the patient, the precaution of in- 
terdicting the use of it between persons of different sexes, 
is not the only one to be taken, especially in regard to 
young persons, being as they are more susceptible of new 
impressions. If the father or the mother cannot themselves 
magnetize their son or their daughter, they ought to know 
the character ana 1 the principles of the person who performs 
the office for them, not only because opinions are commu- 
nicated by intimacy, but because in long treatments, and 
particularly when somnambulism occurs, the magnetizer 
will at length, even without his own knowledge, exert a 
moral influence capable of modifying the humor, the senti- 
ments, and the principles of him to whom he restores 
health. As to the rest, persons who without any selfish 
motive undertake the treatment of a disease, are urged by 
the desire of doing good ; and charity supposes almost all 
the virtues. 

What has been related of the dependence which som- 
nambulists have upon their magnetizer, has given rise to 
ill-founded prejudices against somnambulism. But this de- 
pendence is only relative. It has necessary limits, and 
cannot have the consequences which some have dreaded. 
The somnambulist preserves his reason, and the use of his 
will. When he perceives that the magnetizer designs his 
benefit, he yields to him ; and fortified by him, he deter- 
mines to vanquish a bad habit, to resist an inclination or an 
injurious fantasy, to take a medicine to which he feels a 
repugnance, and which he has judged necessary. He profits 
by the ascendancy of the latter to work for himself, and to 
put himself in an advantageous position, which may be 
continued in the waking state. Sometimes he obeys the 



186 MEANS OF AVOIDING [CHAP. VII. 

orders of his magnetizer in things that are indifferent, be- 
cause the desire of satisfying him predominates over the 
reluctance which he experiences ; but the magnetizer could 
not obtain from him either the revelation of a secret which 
it is his duty or his interest to conceal, nor things essentially 
contrary to the principles of honesty to which he is attached 
in the common state. A reprehensible act of volition would 
cause him to revolt, and throw him into convulsions.* 

The experiments which have been made to show that 
one could make somnambulists obey his will, have alwa}'s 
been experiments of curiosity, without any moral danger, 
but very imprudent, since they fatigue the patients uselessly, 
and may prevent their restoration. People will absolutely 
interdict them when magnetism shall be so well known as 
not to astonish by its phenomena, and when they are well 
convinced that it is a sort of profanation to employ for 
amusement a faculty which God has given us to do good, to 
our fellow ^creatures. 

I will finish this article by a remark worthy of attention. 
It is that among those who are induced by curiosity to at- 

* M. Passavant expresses himself thus, citing in support of his 
opinions, several remarkable facts. 

" Exterior agents may in spite of ourselves, carry disorder into 
our physical organization ; but our moral constitution depends only 
upon our will. Thus, so long as a man wilts to be free, he remains 
so in somnambulism as much as in the ordinary state. One might 
wound or kill, but he could not demoralize a human being without 
his consent." 

Yet suppose the possibility of a lethargic somnambulism, and the 
existence of a being sufficiently depraved to take advantage of it, 
we need not inquire whether any damage might result, if we observe 
the rule laid down above, that a woman when magnetized ought 
always to have a female friend near her. 



CHAP. VII.] ITS DANGERS AND ABUSES. 187 

tempt magnetism, some renounce it as soon as their curiosity 
is satisfied, and some on the contrary attach themselves 
more and more to the practice as their curiosity is extin- 
guished.' These last are captivated solely by the pleasure 
of doing good. The enjoyments of the mind are enfeebled 
by the loss of novelty ; those of the heart become more 
lively the longer we have enjoyed them. The source of 
the last is inexhaustible. 

2. Of the dangers that may occur to the animal economy, 
either by the abuse or the misapplication of magnetism, and 
of the means of avoiding them. 

Those who have wished to inspire the fear of employing 
this agent as a curative means, have based their observa- 
tions upon very specious reasoning, which would be unjust 
if applied to ordinary medicine. Since magnetism has a 
very powerful action, they have said that this action ought 
to be salutary or injurious, according to the nature of the 
disease. If it is a tonic, it will augment the evil when there 
is too much excitement ; if it is soothing, it can produce no 
good results in cases of inaction. 

The defenders of this agent have answered that it cannot 
be compared to medicines which have in themselves a deter- 
minate property. Magnetism, say they, acts upon the whole 
'system ; it seconds the efforts which nature is making to 
throw off' the principle of the disease. If it soothes, it is 
by re-establishing the equilibrium ; if it strengthens, it is by 
recalling the vital fluid into the organs in which there is a 
deficiency. 

The answer is dictated by the theory which is most ap- 
parently true ; and I think that if magnetism were employed 



188 MEANS OF AVOIDING [CHAP. VII. 

in all its purity, and freed from all extraneous principles, it 
could not in any case be injurious. 

Some privileged beings exist who are endowed with a 
lively faith which never hesitates, with a confidence exempt 
from pride, with a charity so expansive that they forget 
themselves and are identified with the suffering being. The 
union of these qualities puts them into a state for employing 
this agent, during which they are directed by an instinct 
more sure than all the calculations of reason. The power 
of their soul predominates over all the interior forces of the 
patient. It excites or soothes them at will. Their action, 
sometimes insufficient, will be always more or less salutary. 
But I ought here to consider magnetism as it can be prac- 
tised at the present time, and by the persons to whom this 
instruction is addressed. 

Let us not then dwell upon an abstract theory. Let us 
consult experience to know if, in certain circumstances, 
magnetism has* not done some evil. Let us listen to them 
who condemn the use of it, not to dispute with them, but to 
profit by whatever truth may be found in the motives of 
their opinion. Innumerable facts, collected for forty years, 
have demonstrated in general the curative power of mag- 
netism. But has it not sometimes produced effects contrary 
to what people have desired to obtain 1 If it be true that 
it has, we must examine in what circumstances it has taken 
place, to what causes they ought to be attributed, and what 
precautions we ought to take to prevent the recurrence 
hereafter. 

I am persuaded there is hardly a disease which, by itself, 
is of a nature to be aggravated by magnetism properly em- 
ployed. But it may happen that magnetism does not agree 
with this or with that individual, either because of peculiar 



CHAP. VII.] ITS DANGERS AND ABUSES. 189 

temperaments, or because there exists a sympathy between 
him and the magnetizer, or because the latter has too strong 
an action, which produces trouble, or because the action is 
too feeble, so that it induces a struggle in which it cannot 
triumph, or because he does not know the mode of applica- 
tion which is useful. In these circumstances, it is prudent 
not obstinately to struggle against obstacles, unless the pa- 
tient is forced by a kind of instinct to demand its continuance. 
There are certain persons on whom magnetism causes a 
nervous irritation. When this is perceived, it would be 
well to magnetize at a distance, with the intention of sooth- 
ing, and withdraw one's self by little and little from one end 
of the apartment to another; you will even draw off the 
fluid by transversal passes ; you will not give yourself any 
uneasiness ; but you will stop if you do not make a state of 
calmness succeed this first nervous shock. We know by 
the somnambulists, that in certain cases magnetism ought to 
be employed with much reserve, and that its application 
ought to vary according to circumstances, either in the de- 
gree of force, in the duration of the sittings, or in the choice 
of the processes. When there is an exaltation of the ner- 
vous system, it is prudent to moderate or even to suspend 
the action. 

The species of nervous irritation of which I have spoken, 
does not in the least resemble the pains which magnetism 
produces or renews in an affected organ. These pains 
prove the action of magnetism, and result from its efforts to 
expel the principle of disease ; and they often make known 
the seat of it. These pains continue during a certain time, 
and calm them as well as you can before the end of the 
sitting, you may expect to see them renewed at the fol- 
lowing sitting, and sometimes in the intervals, until there 



190 MEANS OF AVOIDING [ciIAF. VII. 

is no longer an obstruction to the free circulation of the 
fluid ; and you need not be affrighted on account of them. 
In palsy, magnetism often excites lively pains, because it re- 
establishes sensibility in the limbs before restoring move- 
ment to them. 

This leads me to speak of a real danger, the interruption 
of a treatment commenced, and the omission to sustain a 
crisis which has been excited, and which nature cannot de- 
velope and terminate without being aided by magnetism. 
This danger is nothing in slight and recent indispositions, 
but it is very serious in organic and long-standing diseases. 
A person might do much mischief by magnetizing only 
once to drive off an internal pain caused by a tumor, by a 
humor which, for many years, attacks an organ at certain 
periods. When a person has deranged a movement which 
was established, or excited a contrary movement, it is nec- 
essary to regulate it so that it may not bring on any disor- 
der. The accidents which have occurred, by the rude in- 
terruption of a treatment, ought not to be attributed to mag- 
netism, but to the imprudence of the magnetizer. I shall 
make myself better understood by citing two examples. 
The first is that of a lady who for twelve years had a vio- 
lent headache every month. One day when I was at her 
house and she was suffering much, I relieved her of the at- 
tack in half an hour. The following month the headache 
having returned, she sent for me. I relieved her as before. 
The next day she was very well ; but two days afterwards 
she had insupportable pains in the body. She was at- 
tacked with a violent fever which lasted six weeks, and of 
which she was cured by ordinary medicine. Since that 
time she has not had a return of the headache. I do not 
doubt that this acute disease was produced by the humor 



CHAP. VII.] ITS DANGERS AND ABUSES. 191 

displaced by me ; and that it would not have taken place, 
if, when I drove off the headache at first, I had continued 
to magnetize her for a month, in order to produce some 
crisis. 

The second fact is still more remarkable. It clearly 
proves that one ought not to permit himself to attempt the 
action of magnetism, except when he is sure of continuing 
it as long as it is necessary. 

A girl of sixteen who lived in the country, having had a 
fall, experienced for several months pains in the head, and 
became completely blind, having the gutta serena. Persons 
who took much interest in her, caused her to be placed 
under the care of able oculists. She was sent forthwith to 
the Hotel-Dieu, where all the remedies were essayed. She 
was finally declared incurable ; and as her parents were 
without fortune, she was sent to the Saltpetriere. She was 
there for three years, when a medical student who was 
magnetizing a lady, proposed to her to come to the house 
of that lady, telling her he had hopes of curing her. She 
accepted the offer with gratitude ; and some of her acquaint- 
ances undertook to see that she was attended thither every 
day. She came then to the lady's house, and he who had 
offered her his cares, magnetized her with energy for an 
hour, by putting his hands upon her head. She experienced 
an extraordinary sensation, which nevertheless was not 
painful ; but the following night she was attacked with vio- 
lent pains in the head. She returned to the house of the 
lady, but she did not find the magnetizer, who had left word 
that unexpected circumstances obliged him to suspend the 
treatment. The pains increased from day to day. They 
finally became insupportable, and were accompanied with 
a fever which continued every evening and a part of the 



192 MEANS OF AVOIDING [CHAP. VII. 

night. The poor girl was sent to the infirmary, where 
many remedies were administered to her without effect. 
She was eleven months in this suffering condition, when 
some one requested me to magnetize her. She came to my 
house every day. I employed magnetism by the long pass, 
and made passes along the legs, which became at first so be- 
numbed that she could not move them. After five sittings, 
she was restored, and since that period she has enjoyed good 
health, excepting her blindness. 

This is the same girl whose treatment I continued for 
nearly a year, because the effects which I had produced 
after the cessation of the pains, made me hope to restore 
her sight. I spoke of this in the preceding chapter. It is 
evident that the pains in the head were critical pains pro- 
duced by magnetism, and that they would have ceased in a 
few days, if the crisis had been ascertained. Perhaps at 
that time, vision might have been restored. 

In certain organic diseases which are very severe and 
long-seated, the efforts of nature to take a new direction, 
may produce the most painful and alarming crises. If the 
magnetizer is frightened, if he interrupts the action, the 
patient runs the risk of succumbing. In these cases, hap- 
pily very rare, it would bo necessary to have a somnam- 
bulist sufficiently clairvoyant to announce the crises, to 
describe the manner of developing them, and the results 
which they ought to have. The magnetizer would be 
equally assured, if he were directed by a physician versed 
in the knowledge of magnetism. If this aid be wanting, I 
can only recommend confidence and courage. I have seen 
the interruption or the false direction of a treatment, have, 
in the course of time, the most fatal consequences ; but I 



CHAP. VII.] ITS DANGERS AND ABUSES. 193 

have never seen a serious accident follow a violent crisis, 
the developement of which has not been hindered. 

Many persons fear that magnetism excites nervous com- 
motions, and even convulsions, because they recal to mind 
the effects which were produced at first by Mesmer. But 
at the time when Mesmer connected patients for the first 
time around the baquet, he knew neither the means of 
directing the agent that he employed, nor of calming the 
crises ; and since 1784, the true principles of magnetism 
being well known, the scenes which once made so much 
noise are no longer reproduced. But it is well to say here 
in what case nervous crises may occur, and how all their 
inconveniences may be avoided. 

Magnetism really produces nervous crises in disorders of 
the nervous system ; but they are necessary for the cure ; 
they are the consequences of the efforts of nature to change 
a bad direction, and re-establish the equilibrium. The 
magnetizer does not interrupt them ; he calms them by a 
soothing action, and by his will. Let him not be troubled, 
let him have patience and the desire of doing good, and 
after the crisis the patient will find himself better than 
before. It is very essential to know that magnetism renews 
attacks which it gives the strength to support ; but it accel- 
erates the progress, to destroy the cause of the disease. 

Magnetism also excites nervous motions when people 
make use of it out of curiosity, to exert its power, or to 
obtain singular effects; when its action is concentrated upon 
the head, or when an extraordinary force is employed sud- 
denly, while the subject resists the action ; when, instead of 
being tranquil, the operator is himself agitated. Do not 
magnetize unless you are yourself in a state of calm, and 
nothing disturbs the employment of your faculties. Employ 



194 MEANS OF AVOIDING fcHAP. VII, 

your force gradually, and by little and little. Have no 
other desire than that of curing, and you will never excite 
the least trouble in the one you magnetize. 

If, in a treatment wherein several persons unite in a 
chain, or around a magnetic reservoir, a nervous crisis 
displays itself, the patient attacked by it should be instantly 
taken from the chain, and led to another place, that he may 
be calmed. It is known that nervous attacks are commu- 
nicated by imitation or by sympathy, and this is a reason 
for not exposing the other patients to it. 

I ought here to reiterate a condition essential to the suc- 
cess of every treatment, namely, that the magnetizer must 
be in good health. Rheumatic pains, nervous affections, 
and especially organic diseases, are communicated from the 
magnetizer to the person magnetized, with facility propor* 
tioned to the thoroughness of the communication between 
them. In the state of disease, the vital fluid may be vitiated, 
or at least morbific principles may be thrown off with it. I 
will add, that in the magnetic communication there is estab- 
lished a sympathy between the similar organs of the two 
individuals ; whence it follows that a person whose lungs 
are delicate, cannot without danger magnetize any one 
whose lungs are affected.* 

Hitherto I have spoken only of the dangers to which we 
are exposed in magnetizing, without precautions, persons 
who are not somnambulists. Those which spring from 
somnambulism are still greater. To avoid them, it is nec- 

* The magnetizer who enjoys good health, sometimes sympathet- 
ically experiences the pains of his patient, but he does not catch the 
principles of the disease ; the reason of which is, that as he throws 
the fluid from himself, he is active and not passive, he gives and 
does not receive. 



CHAP. VII.] ITS DANGERS AND ABUSES. 195 

essary to know them, and I will therefore point them out. 
I have just said that a magnetizer whose health is essen- 
tially bad, may communicate the disease to the person whom 
he magnetizes. This thing is especially to be feared in 
somnambulism. I have several times seen the proof of it. 
I will merely recite a fact which struck me forcibly. A 
young lady who had for a long time had a very serious 
nervous disease, was magnetized by a friend of her family 
who rendered her a somnambulist the first day. She very 
soon had favorable crises, and her health appeared to be 
sensibly ameliorated. She flattered herself with the pros- 
pect of obtaining a complete cure, when her magnetizer was 
attacked with an inflammation of the larynx. As he could 
no longer go out of his own house, he sent every evening 
to the patient a magnetized handkerchief which renewed 
somnambulism for two hours. The young lady was very 
soon attacked with the same disease, accompanied by the 
most alarming symptoms. Happily another magnetizer 
came to her aid, a circumstance which did not prevent her 
from being in the greatest danger when the former one 
died. And it was only after a very long treatment, and 
making use of all the remedies which her clairvoyance sug- 
gested, that she was perfectly re-established in health. 

I will not here return to the accidents that may result 
from temporary imprudences, I confine myself to a succinct 
summary of what I have said on this subject. Never in- 
terrupt a crisis. Do not suffer your somnambulist to be 
touched by any one, who is not in communication with him. 
Do not put him in communication with any one except it 
be for some good purpose and when he desires it. Avoid 
magnetizing him in presence of many persons. Occupy 
yourself solely with his health. Follow the processes 



196 MEANS OF AVOIDING [CHAP. VII* 

which he indicates to you. Do not fatigue him with exper- 
iments. If you neglect these precautions, you will diminish 
his lucidity, retard his cure, and do him an injury. Yet 
this injury may be ordinarily repaired by proper cares, and 
the greater part of magnetizers are not instructed on this 
point by their own experience. 

The dangers of which I am about to speak are happily 
much less frequent. They are not caused by a momentary 
fault of the magnetizer, but by the abuse of his own power. 
They are with some individuals the natural consequences 
of somnambulism ; and, as they are very serious and diffi- 
cult to remedy, the magnetizer ought to conduct himself in 
such a manner as infallibly to prevent them. 

Persons who have been for a long time somnambulists 
have been known to preserve, even after their restoration 
to health, a nervous susceptibility which renders them sus- 
ceptible to the least impressions, and the slighest action of 
magnetism may cause them to fall again into an imperfect 
somnambulism. # Some of them have been seen to be hab- 
itually in a magnetic state. This is a great inconvenience, 
and you must avoid it by observing the following directions* 
Do not magnetize your somnambulist any longer than he 
tells you it is necessary. Never speak to him, after he 
awakes, of what he said in somnambulism. In terminating 
each sitting, disembarrass him of the fluid with which he is 
charged, and wake him perfectly, so that there may be no 
intermediate point between the ordinary and the somnam- 
bulic state. As soon as your patient is cured, refrain ab- 
solutely frona the desire of preserving in him the somnam- 
bulic faculties ; will on the contrary that they cease, until 
a new complaint renders them useful to him. Somnambu- 
lists who are no longer ill, are generally poor somnarnbu- 



CHAP. VII.] ITS DANGERS AND ABUSES. 197 

lists ; and the tendency to somnambulism is not in accord- 
ance with the ordinary habits of life. Many magnetizers 
preserve somnambulists after their cure, and they hope 
through them to render service to other patients ; but it is 
wrong to have confidence in such somnambulists. They 
are often made use of for experiments of curiosity. They 
are exhibited to persons who interrogate them upon various 
subjects. All this does no good. It does not even convince 
the incredulous ; and this presents many inconveniences. 

I know that one might cite some exceptions to this rule, 
and that somnambulists, when thoroughly cured, have been 
known to preserve, for many years, a surprising clairvoy- 
ance. This phenomenon is very infrequent. It has its 
source in moral and physical dispositions independent of the 
magnetizer's influence, since persons, who have never been 
magnetized, have been seen to be naturally in a state sim- 
ilar to that of the most extraordinary magnetic somnambu- 
lists ; but this state demands so much management, and re- 
quires so much prudence, discretion, and disinterestedness, 
to derive advantage from it, that a wise man will not seek 
to produce it, or to sustain it by magnetic action. 

But the inconveniences of a somnambulism too much 
prolonged and made almost habitual, are nothing compared 
to the dangers to which one is exposed by turning somnam- 
bulism aside from the single end to which it should be 
directed; that is, by exciting the faculties of somnambulists 
to obtain of them surprising things, from which they can 
derive no advantage, either to their health, or to the per- 
fecting of their moral qualities. There is not the least 
doubt that such an abuse of magnetism may carry trouble 
into the nervous system, and derange the imagination. If 
you exact of your somnambulist things which are difficult 



*98 MEANS OF AVOIDING [CHAP. YU, 

and contrary to his will, if you should wish to act upon him 
in such a manner as to make him see the dead or spirits, if 
you compel him to go into distant times or places, to discover 
things lost, or to announce the future, to tell you what 
numbers will be fortunate in a lottery, a thing which he 
knows no better than you, if you interrogate him about po- 
litical affairs, &c, you will do him much mischief, and 
might even make him idiotic. If this should occur, it will 
be your own fault ; it ought not to be attributed to magnet- 
ism, but wholly to your temerity. Somnambulism will 
never produce the least disorder when not abused : and we 
are sure of not abusing it when we employ it solely for the 
purpose of learning the means of doing good to the somnam- 
bulist, or to the patients with whom he consents to interest 
himself. Somnambulism of itself is a state of calm, during 
which all the forces of nature put themselves in equilibrium. 
The stream of life then flows freely ; its waters, united in a 
single channel, are purified in their tranquil current ; but if 
you build dikes, * will overflow its banks, and produce the 
greatest disasters. 

In many works on magnetism, and especially in those 
which have been published in Germany, the authors have 
distinguished different degrees or states of somnambulism, 
the most elevated of which has been called ecstasy, or 
magnetic exaltation. I spoke of this extraordinary state in 
the preceding chapter. I ought here to state that it is very 
dangerous, and that in the hands of a magnetizer who lacks 
force, coolness, and experience, and who is governed by 
the desire of witnessing marvels, it may be attended with 
the most fatal consequences. When this state is arrived at 
a certain degree, the magnetizer has no longer any control 
over it. If, then, you see somnambulism taking this direc- 



CHAP. VII.] ITS DANGERS AND ABUSES. 199 

tion, it is necessary forthwith to oppose it ; and if you fear 
you shall not succeed, you should renounce the treatment. 
It is never at the first time that this state becomes sufficiently 
manifest for the will of the magnetizer to be inefficient. I 
think this danger has never been better exposed than in a 
pamphlet entitled, "Memoire sur le magnetisme animal, 
presente a l'academie de Berlin." 1820. This is from the 
pen of a distinguished physician, and I knew the man whose 
somnambulism was the subject of his observations. 

I believe that the accidents which have sometimes resulted 
from somnambulism, have never occurred except when it 
has been pushed too far, or when its beneficial and repara- 
tive action has been counteracted. 

3. Of the dangers to which persons expose themselves 
who place too much confidence in so?nna?nbulists. 

Many enthusiastic magnetizers have a blind faith in their 
somnambulists. They believe them infallible, both in the 
judgment they give of their own disease, and in that which 
they give of the diseases of others. If the remedies ordered 
by them do not succeed, they suppose it is because the pre- 
scriptions have not been followed with sufficient exactitude; 
if the remedies have done mischief, they regard the mischief 
as a necessary crisis. As they have sometimes seen incon- 
ceivable wonders, they have become credulous, and this 
credulity makes them lose all prudence. Even when a 
mischance arrives, they continue in the illusion. 

There are, without doubt, some somnambulists endowed 
with such a lucidity, that when they have been placed in 
communication with a sick person, they clearly explain the 
origin, the cause, and the nature of the disorder, and pre- 



200 MEANS OF AVOIDING [CHAP. VII. 

scribe the most suitable remedies by indicating the effects 
they ought to produce, and the crises which are to be ex- 
pected. They announce a disease which will develope it- 
self in several months, and the precautions which ought to 
be taken, when the first symptoms are perceivable. They 
even see the moral condition of the patient, penetrate his 
thoughts and give him appropriate advice ; but these som- 
nambulists are rare ; and even those who have given proofs 
of this inconceivable clairvoyance, do not always preserve 
it, and do not possess it except at certain moments. 

It often happens also that the clairvoyance of somnam- 
bulists is not extended equally to' all objects ; they see very 
well things which no man in the world in the ordinary 
state, could conjecture ; and they do not perceive others 
which a physician would notice at the first glance of the 
eye. 

Let us not doubt of the faculties of somnambulists, but 
let us be the more prudent since we are engaged in a career 
in which we do not see the rocks and quicksands, 

In order to avoid all the dangers of a blind confidence, 
observe the following directions. 

When you have been so happy as to meet with a som- 
nambulist who has given proofs of his lucidity, present your 
patient to him, sustain his attention, and let him speak with- 
out interrogating him. If he perfectly describes the symp- 
toms of the disease, if he points out the origin of it, if he 
speaks of remedies which have been employed and of the 
effects they have produced, if he sees clearly what it is 
impossible to divine, and especially what you are ignorant 
of yourself, as it has often happened to me, it is evident that 
he is well acquainted with the disease, and this knowledge 
will be very useful to you. 



CHAP. VII.] ITS DANGERS AND ABUSES. 201 

Then you will request him to point out the treatment to 
be pursued. 

If this treatment exhibits nothing that can be injurious, 
and if it does not oblige the patient to renounce that which 
he is already pursuing, and from which he has experienced 
relief, if the somnambulist affirms that the medicines which 
he points out will produce such or such an effect, and that 
the patient will be cured after having experienced such or 
such a crisis, you will follow his prescriptions with the most 
rigorous exactitude. 

But if among the remedies indicated there are some 
which, in certain cases, might do mischief, you will apply 
to an enlightened physician who, if he be not a partisan of 
magnetism, may bc3 at least exempt from prejudice, and you 
will submit to him the advice of the somnambulist, which 
you will follow in case he sees no danger in it. You will 
not put your somnambulist in consultation with the physi- 
cian, provided the physician is not himself a magnetizer ; 
for in talking with him, the somnambulist may yield to his 
vanity, and say things not prompted by instinct ; but you 
will combine what he says with what the physician in 
whom you repose entire confidence, tells you. By this 
means you will have no risk to run, and even if the treat- 
ment does not succeed, you will have no cause for self- 
reproach. 

There are at Paris somnambulists who make a profession 
of giving advice for a fee, and the enemies of magnetism do 
not fail to say that their somnambulism is pretended. I can 
affirm the contrary, and I have examined a great number 
of them with the most scrupulous attention. I have col- 
lected a large number of facts which I have examined in 
such a manner as to leave me in no uncertainty on this 



202 MEANS OF AVOIDING [dlAP. VII. 

head. They differ among themselves in the degree of their 
faculties and of their moral qualities; but all are really 
somnambulists.* 

Among those whom I have observed, there is not one that 
I have not known to commit errors ; but there is not one 
that has not exhibited to me proofs of clairvoyance. This 
clairvoyance has appeared to me imperfect and limited on 
several occasions. At other times they have singularly 
astonished me. For instance, I have conducted to the 
houses of these somnambulists, patients whom they could 
not have known, and of whose state I was myself ignorant; 
and I have seen them after a quarter of an hour of concen- 
tration and of silence, divine the origin, the cause, and the 
stages of the diseases, determine the seat of the pains, dis- 
cover what no physician could perceive, and describe with 
exactitude the character, the habits, and the inclinations of 
those who consult them. I have seen some of them who 
have cured very severe acute diseases, and inveterate 
chronic disorders, by boldly changing the treatment pur- 
sued up to that time. 

Each of the somnambulists of whom I speak has methods 
of investigation peculiar to himself. The attention of some 
is at first struck with the most serious evil ; others examine 
separately and successively all the organs, commencing at 



* It is possible to feign an imperfect somnambulism in presence 
of persons who take no precautions to verify the reality ; and I 
recollect having been for three days the dupe of a person whom I 
thought incapable of deceiving me ; but whatever address the pre. 
tended somnambulist may have, you may discern the deception at 
the first examination. The faculties peculiar to somnambulists 
cannot be successfully imitated by any one who does not possess 
them. 



CHAP. VII.] ITS DANGERS AND ABUSES. 203 

the head ; and it is only after having viewed them apart, 
that they endeavor to determine their reciprocal influence. 
There are some of them who, to make this examination, do 
nothing more than to touch with one hand the pulse of the 
patient, while with the other they feel over all the body ; 
they thus perceive by sympathy which are the affected or- 
gans, and they sometimes experience the pains of the pa- 
tient so much as to suffer considerably after the sitting. 

Some of them consult for persons who are absent and 
unknown to them. Some hair of the patient, or something 
which he has worn for several days on the stomach next 
to the skin,* suffices to put them in such close communica- 
tion with him, that they will describe exactly and minutely 
his physical and moral condition. I do not pretend that 
they do not often deceive themselves, but I have seen them 
many times succeed in an astonishing manner in cases 
where they had nothing to guide them, and where the dis- 
ease for which they were consulted had characteristics too 
rare for them to come at the truth by conjecture or chance. 
If he who consults has for his aim, not to enlighten himself, 
but to put the somnambulist to the proof, it is possible that, 
without knowing it, he will exert an influence which will 
furnish him with new reasons for his incredulity. 

To what I have just said of the somnambulists by pro- 
fession in reference to their varying faculties, I ought to add 
that I have noticed in many of them much uprightness 
and sensibility. I have seen them carefully distinguish 
between what they thought themselves sure of, and what 



* It is necessary to envelope these things in paper, and not to 
have had the packet opened, when it is presented to the somnam. 
bulist. 



S 



204 MEANS OF AVOIDING [CHAP. VII. 

they thought merely probable, and refuse to give a consul, 
tation when they did not feel themselves to be in possession 
of sufficient clairvoyance ; or when the state of the patient 
appeared desperate, they would not declare the opinion they 
had formed respecting it. 

The part which these somnambulists have taken, of giving 
consultations every day, which fatigue them, obliges them 
to take care of themselves, and renounce all other business. 
It is proper that they should be recompensed for their 
trouble, and the sacrifice of their time. The persons who 
apply to them are very glad to be able to acquit themselves 
of the obligation, if they have received good advice ; and 
as no one designs to deceive them, they have no reason to 
complain, if they have merely satisfied their curiosity. 

This is what I had to say to justify an abuse which will 
exist so long as magnetism is not practised in families, under 
the direction of a physician, and which in the actual circum- 
stances of the case, ought not to be condemned.* But 



* Some men who have not taken the pains to inform themselves 
of the services rendered every day by the somnambulists of whom I 
speak, would have the police forbid their giving consultations. Such 
a measure would create inconveniences a thousand times more se- 
rious than the ones sought to be obviated. In the first place, these 
somnambulists could no longer find a magnetizer who, by a disinter- 
ested zeal, would consent to direct them and sustain their strength. 
In the second place, those of the somnambulists who have the most 
delicacy, would think they ought to renounce a practice which is 
interdicted to them. Finally, those who, in spite of the law, would 
continue to see patients, having risks to run, would demand a high- 
er price for their services, and require secresy ; and the persons 
who obtain a consultation from them, would not dare to submit it 
to a physician, for fear of compromising their obligations to the 
somnambulists. 



CHAP. VII.] ITS DANGERS AND ABUSES. 205 

without pretending to make any particular application, 
without disapproving what exists, I ought to show that som- 
nambulists by profession, those especially who succeed in 
throwing themselves into the crisis, ought in general to 
inspire less confidence than those of whom I spoke further 
back, and who in the waking state, are ignorant of the 
faculties with which they are endowed during sleep. What 
I am about to say is supported by the true principles of 
magnetism, and confirmed by numerous observations. 

In order to have a somnambulist judge correctly the 
state of a disease, he must in some sort identify himself with 
the patient. For, the motive which determines him to iden- 
tify himself with a suffering being, can be no other than 
the sentiment of pity, or the love of good. It supposes a 
forgetfulness of one's self, and personal interest must neces- 
sarily alter its purity. 

When somnambulism by being too much prolonged be- 
comes a habit, there is established a communication between 
this and the ordinary state. Instinct no longer acts inde- 
pendently. The acquired ideas, recollections, prejudices, 
interests, are mingled with that species of inspiration which 
developes in the somnambulist a faculty absolutely foreign 
to those which we enjoy in the common state. 

Professional somnambulists are rarely in a state of ab- 
straction, (isoles,) from which it is to be presumed that they 
have not reached the degree of concentration which ordina- 
rily precedes perfect clairvoyance. As they see many 
patients in the course of the day, the impressions which 
they receive change their nature at every moment, and it is 
difficult for them to identify themselves alternately with 
each one of those for whom they are consulted. Besides, 
to see the disease, to describe its symptoms, to divine its 



206 MEANS OF AVOIDING [CHAP. Y1L 

origin, is not all. The somnambulist is also required to 
point out the treatment. The faculty of seeing remedies is 
very different from that of seeing diseases, and is not always 
united with it. It may also be remarked that many pro- 
fessional somnambulists have a pharmacy peculiar to them- 
selves. They order, according to circumstances, a certain 
number of medicines which they are acquainted with, be- 
cause they have made use of them, and their complicated 
prescriptions often appear to embrace useless things. 

The lucidity of somnambulists varies from one moment 
to another. A somnambulist who consults only with the 
desire of relieving a suffering being, when he perceives that 
he is not for the moment endowed with perfect clairvoyance, 
says to his magnetizer: "I do not see well to-day. The 
patient must return and try to find me in a more favorable 
condition. I am not well acquainted with the disease; I 
cannot devise the remedy. I suspect such or such to be 
the case, but I am not certain, and I cannot permit myself 
to say positively," &c. 

The somnambulists who receive in succession several 
patients, each one at the hour they have appointed, think 
themselves obliged to answer the questions put to them ; 
provided they do not experience too much fatigue, they 
rarely think of examining themselves to be sure of their 
own lucidity. They would not deceive you; but they de- 
pend upon the first sensations they feel, and prescribe rem- 
edies after the habitudes they have acquired. As they de- 
sire you to entertain as favorable an opinion of their lucidity 
as they themselves do, they are dexterous in the manner of 
expressing themselves. If they perceive that they have 
erred, they go about to rectify their judgment and to per- 
suade you that you have not well understood them. When 



CHAP. VII.] ITS DANGERS AND ABUSES. 207 

they do not discover the essential disease, they almost al- 
ways conjecture some of the symptoms; and if you appear 
surprised at it, they profit by this discovery to direct them- 
selves and to augment your confidence. If the remedies 
they have ordered do not produce the effects they expect- 
ed, they do not on that account think themselves mistaken ; 
they find pretexts for excusing their error, and plausible 
reasons for modifying their treatment. All this may take 
place, without any misgivings, and with an entire honesty 
on their part ; for our interest influences our manner of 
viewing things, our decisions and our conduct, without our 
knowing it. 

Somnambulists of this species have often gone to see 
physicians who are prejudiced against magnetism, and who 
wish to sustain their incredulity by experiments. They 
have almost always succeeded in putting them at fault, and 
they have thence concluded that all those who profess to 
have acquired proof of the lucidity of somnambulists were 
dupes. If they had known the principles of magnetism, 
they would not have drawn this conclusion. Somnambu- 
lists to whom insidious questions are asked, are much em- 
barrassed, and if vanity, or the fear of avowing their igno- 
rance, determines them to answer, they make efforts, they 
are troubled, they speak at random, and very soon they are 
put in contradiction with themselves by some one better in- 
formed than they are. Besides, in order to have a somnam- 
bulist lucid, he must be sustained by the confidence and the 
will of the person who magnetizes him, and he who is put in 
communication must desire to receive useful advice of him. 
If he is exempt from all interest, if he preserves his inde- 
pendence, he will tell the one who comes to consult him, 
and whose intentions are not in accordance with his, " I 



s* 



208 MEANS OF AVOIDING [CHAP. VII. 

cannot consult for you ; I am not in condition to answer 
your questions." But in the contrary case, it is natural 
that lie should employ the resources of his wit to supply the 
instinctive faculties which fail him.* 

Yet these somnambulists may be very useful ; and, as I 
have said, there are some of them who are endowed with 
the most astonishing faculties, and whose goodness of heart 
raises them above every other sentiment. Even those 
whose clairvoyance is very imperfect, have, at certain mo- 
ments, and as it were by flashes, a surprising lucidity. One 
might apply to them, not to put them to the proof, but to 
hear their advice with attention, and to derive from it some 
information. It is not during the sitting, but it is afterwards, 
that we ought to weigh, combine, and discuss what they 
have said, in order to judge of the degree of confidence 
which they merit. I will point out the conduct you ought 
to pursue, and which you can do without fear. 

If you decide to consult one of these somnambulists, do 
not limit yourself to the inquiry whether he has given 
proofs of lucidity ; endeavor also to find out whether in his 
conduct he has always shown himself worthy of esteem. 
We cannot be certain that a somnambulist will not deceive 
himself, but it is at least necessary to be assured that he is 
incapable of deceiving others. If the somnambulist has a 

* What I say here is founded upon facts which have been related 
to me, and not upon my own observations. I never permitted my- 
self to consult somnambulists to put them to the proof. I have not 
even gone to the houses of any except those whom I knew to have 
given evidence of clairvoyance. It seems to me not very proper to 
employ insidious means to learn the truth. It discovers itself to 
him who searches for it with perseverance and honest intentions. 



CHAP. VII.] ITS DANGERS AND ABUSES. 209 

sensible and enlightened man for a magnetizer, this will be 
one motive for confidence. 

It is desirable for you not to be known directly or indi- 
rectly to the somnambulist, in order to be sure that he knows 
nothing of your disease ; but this is not always possible. 
In all cases, when you have been put in communication 
with him, you will not inform him of what you suffer ; you 
will answer yes or no to his questions, without testifying the 
least surprise. If he describes the symptoms of your dis- 
order, if he discovers its origin, if he finds out what could 
not be known by his senses, you will have some reason to 
believe in his clairvoyance, and you will take note of all 
the remedies that he prescribes to you. It is not until he 
has finished telling you what he has seen and perceived, 
and what he advises you to do, that you will permit your- 
self to invite him to direct his attention to any particular 
organ, or to interrogate him upon any thing which disquiets 
you. I suppose that after having quitted him, and reflect- 
ed upon what he has told you, you will be entirely satisfied 
and even astonished at the judgment he has formed of your 
condition. You will then address yourself to a candid phy- 
sician, and submit to him the advice of the somnambulist 
before you take the remedies prescribed ; for it may hap- 
pen that there is a complication of diseases of which the 
somnambulist has seen but one. It may also be that the 
somnambulist sees the disorder very well, but mistakes in 
regard to the remedy. The physician will certainly find 
in the advice of the somnambulist perceptions calculated to 
enlighten him ; but it belongs to him to appreciate them, 
and to modify the treatment in consequence. 

When a lucid somnambulist prescribes remedies for him- 
self, we should conform ourselves exactly to his prescrip- 



210 MEANS OF AVOIDING [CHAP. VII. 

tions. If he is charged with only one patient in whom he 
takes interest, and to whom he devotes himself, he ought to 
be heard with great confidence, and you will follow his 
advice, provided there appears to be nothing in it of a 
dangerous character. The physician is solely to approve 
or to disapprove. But with the somnambulists of whom I 
have just spoken, the physician ought to preserve his su- 
premacy, and direct the treatment, while he profits by the 
intelligence of the somnambulist, and makes use of the 
remedies indicated, if he sees therein no inconvenience. 

If reason permits us to depend solely and unreservedly 
upon a somnambulist by profession who has given proofs of 
lucidity, it is only when physicians have declared the case 
to be beyond the resources of their art, and that they know 
no means of curing the patient which has not been tried. 

As much as I love to contemplate somnambulism in its 
purity, when the soul, disengaged from sensation and all 
terrestrial interest, sees nothing without her but what is 
enlightened by the torch of charity, it is painful for me to 
consider it as a complicated faculty, of which I know neither 
the principle, the direction, nor the limits, presenting itself 
with vacillating and diversified characters. But the details 
into which I have entered appeared to me necessary, be- 
cause this work is not destined solely for persons who wish 
to practise magnetism to do good, but also for those who, 
having heard of cures effected by somnambulists, come to 
consult them without having the least idea of the circum- 
stances which favor or trouble their clairvoyance* and 
without being acquainted with the precautions which are 
necessary to distinguish between their instinctive notions, 
and the illusions to which they are often exposed. 



CHAP. VII.] ITS DANGERS AND ABUSES. 211 

Somnambulists may give erroneous views to those who 
consult them with too much confidence, not only in regard 
to the treatment of diseases, but also in regard to tilings not 
less important. I have seen persons who, at sight of the 
somnambulic phenomena, were led to the adoption of most 
absurd and extravagant opinions. J know that a thorough 
knowledge of somnambulism places one beyond the reach 
of this danger ; but there are few persons who have suffic- 
iently studied this state to escape being dazzled by its phe- 
nomena, and to distinguish what is produced by the imagi- 
nation, from what is perceived by the new faculty developed 
or revealed by the interior sentiment. I should wander 
from the path before me, if I stepped aside to enter into 
many details on this subject. It should suffice for me sim- 
ply to trace the route you ought to follow, so as not to be 
led astray ; yet I will make a few observations in the first 
place, which will render the justness and the importance of 
my counsels more perceivable. 

In somnambulists there are developed faculties of which 
we are deprived in the ordinary state ; such as seeing with- 
out the aid of the eyes, hearing without the aid of the ears, 
seeing at a distance, reading the thoughts, appreciating time 
with rigorous exactitude, and, what is still more astonishing, 
having a presage of the future. But there is often with 
somnambulists an extraordinary exaltation of the faculties 
with which we are endowed. Thus, among them, the im- 
"agination may assume a prodigious activity ; the memory 
may recal a thousand ideas which were entirely effaced ; 
the elocution may become so elegant, so pure, so brilliant, 
as to seem the product of inspiration. But all this does not 
exclude error. The exercise of the faculties peculiar to 
somnambulists, as well as that of our ordinary faculties, has 



214 MEANS OF AVOIDING [CHAP, VII. 

ledge of the essential principles of morals is the result of the 
unfolding of our intelligence. 

For, the view of the order of the universe will be the 
more clear, the inner sense will be the more quick, the un- 
folding of intelligence will be the more regular, the more 
the soul is disengaged from all terrestrial interest, the more 
estranged from all passion. And this is the reason why the 
somnambulist, abstracted and concentrated in himself, is in 
this respect more enlightened than we. But in regard to 
things which have been revealed to man, or which have 
been taught us by tradition, it does not belong to somnam- 
bulists to instruct us ; they have merely the same gift that 
we have. Their disposition to piety might edify us ; but 
if we make them reason about mysteries, their imagination 
will be exalted, and they will give into all sorts of errors ; 
they will no longer draw consequences from innate princi- 
ples, but from the prejudices of childhood, or from some 
hypothetical views. They will conduct us into an ideal 
world, where, as in the actual world, illusion and reality will 
be mingled, not to be separated except by the aid of reason 
and experience. Even when in this ideal world the som- 
nambulist sees what is concealed from us, he cannot com- 
municate them to us, more than we can give to those who 
are born blind an idea of the phenomena of vision. 

I know that many persons have been led to embrace the 
reveries of what is called illuminism> by the confidence they 
have had in mystic or ecstatic somnambulists. The way 
to escape from this danger is, not to let the somnambulist 
wander into the regions of fantasy, and to limit ourselves, 
as to religious doctrines, to what we are required to believe. 
God has revealed to us what it behooves us to know, and 



CHAP. VII.] ITS DANGERS AND ABUSES. 215 

the indiscreet curiosity which would go beyond this, will be 
always punished. 

Ecstatic somnambulism is often exhibited, without being 
induced by magnetism. They who enter into this state, 
manifest upon certain points, a clairvoyance which would 
appear miraculous ; they do not exhibit less in the strangest 
errors ; and they have exerted the most fatal influence upon 
those who have had the imprudence to listen to them as 
oracles. 

If it is dangerous to consult somnambulists upon the 
dogmas of religion, it is not less so to consult them upon 
political affairs. I have seen men, otherwise well-informed, 
become the dupes of their visions and their predictions. I 
cannot too much recommend your never permitting them to 
enter upon such a course. 

The metaphysical acumen of certain somnambulists, is 
sometimes very surprising. Doubtless it is better than that 
of the materialists, but it does not repose upon a solid basis. 
It generally conducts us to systems analogous to those of 
the Alexandrian school, or of the eclectics of the third cen- 
tury, in which sublime truths were associated with senseless 
creeds. Somnambulists who give themselves up to this 
species of research, ordinarily lose the most important 
faculties, and the proofs of lucidity which they exhibit in 
relation to certain things of a useless nature, merely serve 
to mislead the judgment of those who mistake their visions 
for realities. 

I have seen persons who had certain proofs of the clair- 
voyance of a somnambulist, consult him about the conduct 
of their domestic affairs, and suffer themselves to be guided 
by him ; and I have also seen them by this means take 
imprudent steps. I do not deny that a somnambulist may 



216 MEANS OF AVOIDING [CHAP. VII. 

sometimes, and in certain circumstances, give excellent 
advice, because of the penetration he possesses, and even 
because of his ability to foresee the issue of an event which 
is in progress ; but for this it is necessary for him to speak 
of his own accord, yielding to his instinct, without being 
excited, without being solicited, and without reasoning. A 
very good somnambulist, who is in thorough communication 
with you, will tell you, "Beware of such a person, he is 
deceiving you ;" or, " Do not undertake such a journey, the 
result will be unfortunate." This merits some attention. 
But, if you argue with him, he will enjoy no advantage over 
you, except that of having more wit, and more facility in 
conveying his thoughts. 

I repeat it for the last time ; if you desire to avoid the 
danger of the influence which somnambulists may exercise 
over you, do not consult them except about what appertains 
to their real interest, and about what they may know better 
than you, namely, upon the means of re-establishing their 
health, or of directing their moral conduct. 

In many works upon magnetism, somnambulism has been 
represented as a state of purity, in which man is superior to 
the passions, and would reject the slightest thought which 
would wound decency or the moral sense. Those who have 
sustained this thesis, are supported by some facts : but the 
principle generalized is absolutely false. Many somnam- 
bulists preserve the passions and the inclinations which they 
had in the waking state. There are some of them who would 
sacrifice themselves for others ; there are some who are 
profoundly selfish ; there are some who are of angelic purity, 
and these would go into convulsions if the magnetizer had 
a thought injurious to modesty. Some may be found who 
preserve in somnambulism the depravity which they display 



CHAP, VII.] ITS DANGERS AND ABUSES. 217 

in the ordinary state. There are some of them who calcu- 
late their own interests, and profit by what is told them to 
procure themselves some advantages. Vanity and jealousy 
are sentiments very common among them. 

It follows from all I have just said, that the greatest wis- 
dom and the greatest prudence are requisite for the good 
management of somnambulists, and for preventing their 
gaining an ascendancy over the magnetizer ; that he ought 
ahvays to preserve his supremacy, and yet not to make use 
of it except to retain them in subjection, and never to excite 
them ; finally, that this state, in some sort supernatural, 
may, in bad hands, be attended with many dangers. But 
let plain and upright men be fearless, let them but exercise 
an unshaken will for good, let them employ somnambulism 
only for the object for which Providence has destined it, let 
them repress their curiosity, the spirit of proselytism, the 
rage for experiments, let a compassionate charity, an un- 
bounded confidence, be the only motives of their action, and 
they will never have any thing to dread. 






CHAPTER VIII. 

OF THE MEANS OF DEVELOPING IN OURSELVES 

THE MAGNETIC FACULTIES, AND OF DERIVING 

ADVANTAGE FROM THIS DEVELOPEMENT. 

When Mesmer announced his discovery, he would not 
divulge a secret of which he thought himself the sole pos- 
sessor, unless they would allow him a certain number of 
select students to whom he could explain all his theory, and 
at the same time teach them the mode of its application. 
But to let the world know how vast and important that the- 
ory was, and to establish his priority of discovery, (pour 
prendre date,) he published its fundamental principles in 
twenty-seven propositions, the proofs of which he reserved, 
and the developement of which he promised to give, and 
also to explain its consequences, as soon as they had con- 
sented to arrange the matter, and to take the measures he 
judged proper to prevent the abuse of his principles and the 
robbing him of the glory of having discovered them. These 
propositions were very obscure. Several of them seemed 
contrary to the received principles of physics. They have 
never been clearly explained, and yet the practice of mag- 
netism has been attended with the greatest success. This 
proves that they were not so important as their author 
thought them ; and that the effects which he produced and 
those which his pupils produced, were not essentially allied 
to his doctrine. Yet one cannot but agree that the asser- 
tions of Mesmer merit the greatest attention, if not for the 



220 TO DEVELOPE IN OURSELVES [CHAP. VIII. 

general system of physics with which he associated his dis- 
covery, at least as far as it relates to the proper action of 
magnetism, its power, its effects, to the means of directing 
and strengthening its action, to the utility derivable from it, 
especially in the treatment of diseases, for Mesmer was both 
a good observer and a learned physician. 

The twenty-seventh of the propositions of Mesmer com- 
mences in this manner : This doctrine will put the physi- 
cian in the way of forming a correct judgment of the degree 
of each individual's health. 

People have not sufficiently reflected upon this proposi- 
tion, and they will search in vain in most of the works up- 
on magnetism to discover how it leads the physician to de- 
cide in relation to the state of the sick. 

Mesmer also said in the thirteenth proposition : Experi- 
ment has proved the existence of a subtile matter which pen- 
etrates all bodies without apparently losing its activity. This 
proposition has been left unexplained, as well as the twenty- 
seventh. 

Mesmer afterwards spoke much of the currents, and no 
account has been given of what he meant by the term. 
The supposition of currents passing and repassing through 
bodies, as that of the poles, appertains to the general system 
of Mesmer, and I agree that it is useless to look into this 
subject now ; but if we can ascertain by experiment the 
flowing of a subtile fluid, and if the name current is given 
to this emanation, the nature of this emanation, the degree 
of force with which it escapes, and the cause of the direc- 
tion it takes, are physical and physiological problems which 
ought to be examined with the greatest care. 

The phenomenon mentioned by Mesmer has been known 
to a great number of his scholars. It was in particular 



CHAP. VIII.] THE MAGNETIC FACULTIES. 221 

known to M. d'Eslon, who fixed upon this subject the at- 
tention of almost all those to whom he taught the practice 
of magnetism. This knowledge was common to several of 
the members of the Society at Strasburg ; and yet in the 
numerous memoirs which they have published, they have 
spoken of it only in a vague manner, as of a thing known 
to all the world by an oral tradition which it is therefore 
useless to explain. I have myself scarcely said any thing 
upon this subject in my Critical History, because I did not 
well understand the subject, and not being endowed with the 
faculty of perceiving in myself the diseases of others, and 
not having paid attention to the action of the currents, I 
could not speak of it from my own experience. I have 
since read some manuscripts of M. d'Eslon, in which the 
question has been treated of; I have also read a manuscript 
work written thirty-six years ago by a highly intelligent 
gentleman, an excellent observer, and who, having first 
been instructed by M. d'Eslon, had added much to the 
knowledge he had acquired as a pupil ; and I am convinced 
that what I had neglected to look into, was a very remark- 
able phenomenon, the observation of which is the most use- 
ful in the practice of magnetism. 

M. de Lausanne recently gave a long extract from the 
manuscript I have just cited. It forms the first volume of 
the work entitled " The Processes and Principles of Mag- 
netism," 2 vols, in 8mo. 1819. I invite those who wish to 
practise magnetism to read this work with the greatest at- 
tention, and to exercise themselves patiently in the method 
taught by the author. Of course I cannot here lay down 
all the principles, nor give their explanation. I must limit 
myself to let the reader know the principal phenomenon, and 



222 TO DEVELOPE IN OURSELVES [CHAP. VIII. 

the indications with which it furnishes us, the better to suc- 
ceed in the treatment of diseases. 

It is well known that good somnambulists discover the 
seat of the diseases of persons put in communication with 
them, sometimes by experiencing sympathetically pains in 
the part of their body corresponding with that which is af- 
fected in the patient, sometimes by passing the hands over 
them and examining with attention from the head to the 
feet. It is also well known that without any instruction 
they magnetize much better than they do when awake, and 
that they give to the magnetic fluid the most suitable direc- 
tion. 

This faculty of perceiving the seat of diseases, and the 
direction which we ought to give to the fluid, does not be- 
long exclusively to somnambulists ; it is also developed in 
many magnetizers, when they are attentive to the different 
sensations they experience, either while magnetizing various 
patients, or while carrying the action of magnetism upon 
any organ of a" patient with whom they are in communica- 
tion. 

I know many magnetizers, who, when they hold their 
hand upon the seat of an internal disease, perceive a pain 
which extends to the elbow ; their hand is benumbed, and 
even becomes swollen. This effect diminishes with the 
disease ; it ceases with the cure ; and its cessation indicates 
that magnetism is no longer necessary. 

I saw a physician experience this sensation the first time 
he attempted to magnetize. With others it does not show 
itself until after reiterated attempts. I have not observed 
it in myself, because my occupations have not permitted me 
to magnetize except by intervals, and when I was induced 
to it by the desire of alleviating a sick person. Yet some 



CHAP. VIII.] THE MAGNETIC FACULTIES. 223 

effects which I have perceived in various circumstances, 
make me think I should have acquired it, had I taken care 
to notice the causes which produced them. 

The delicate tact which enables us to perceive the seat 
and sometimes the nature of the disease, to foretel a crisis 
which is in progress, to judge of the moment when a crisis 
will terminate, and to choose as by instinct the processes 
best calculated to direct the action well, being the most 
useful of all the faculties to the magnetizer, I am going to 
treat succinctly of the mode of acquiring it, and of making 
use of it. What I shall say is not the result of my own 
experience, but of the explanation which many magnetizers 
have given me of the method pursued by themselves, by 
whom I have seen wonderful cures effected, of my conver- 
sations with the late M. Varnier, with many pupils of M. 
d'Eslon, and many members of the Society of Strasburg, 
of the theory explained in the work I have just cited, of 
some observations which I extracted from the English work 
of Dr. de Maineduc,* and finally, of the examination and 
comparison of a great number of facts which I have wit- 
nessed, and of all those which I have been able to collect. 

When a man magnetizes, he puts himself, by the exertion 
of his will, in a state different from his habitual one, he con- 
centrates his attention upon a single object, he throws off 
and directs beyond himself the nervous or vital fluid, and 
this new manner of being renders him susceptible of new 
impressions. He first perceives a change operated in him- 

* I have no longer this book in my possession. It was published 
at London, nearly thirty years ago, in an octavo edition. The au- 
thor therein unfolds a curious, but very systematic theory ; and it 
demands of those who wish to practise magnetism, a knowledge of 
things which does not appear to me at all necessary. 



224 TO DEVELOPE IN OURSELVES [CHAP. VIII. 

self by the action in which he is engaged. He then expe- 
riences by the reaction of him whom he magnetizes, various 
sensations which affect him more or less according to the 
degree of susceptibility with which he is endowed, and ac- 
cording to the degree of attention which he pays to recog- 
nise and distinguish them. 

The change which occurs in us when we act magnetically, 
that is to say, when the passes we make are magnetic, and 
the feeling which persuades us we are in communication 
with him whom we wish to magnetize, are things which it 
is impossible to describe, but which they who are in the 
habit of magnetizing, and who have observed what passes 
in themselves, recognise with certainty. This disposition 
is composed of a determined intention, which banishes all 
distraction without our making any effort, of a lively interest 
which the patient inspires in us and which draws us towards 
him, and of a confidence in our power, which leaves us in 
no doubt as to* our success in alleviating him. When expe- 
rience has taught you that you are susceptible of this feel- 
ing, if you do not experience it after you have tried a 
quarter of an hour, it is useless to continue ; the efforts of 
will that you could make would be unavailing. You will 
try two or three times more on the following days, and you 
will cease if you have no more success ; for then it proves 
that you are not in a state to magnetize, or that your action 
does not agree with the person on whom you wish to act. On 
the contrary, if you perceive in yourself a manifestation of 
the disposition of which I speak, you should persevere ; for, 
when the patient feels nothing, it is extremely probable that 
you exercise upon him a real action, whose effects will be 
manifested in the sequel, either by some crises, or by an 
amelioration of health. 



CHAP. VIII.] THE MAGNETIC FACULTIES. 225 

Besides the change in the moral dispositions, there are 
also some signs purely physical, or some sensations which 
will indubitably assure the magnetizer that he has established 
a communication, and exercises a magnetic action. Com- 
monly his hands are warm ; it seems as if the vital action 
were carried outwards. 

I have been intimately connected with a man who had a 
very energetic and very salutary magnetic power. When 
he had begun to act upon any one, he was obliged to con- 
tinue nearly three quarters of an hour, or otherwise he 
found himself the rest of the day in a state of agitation. 
When he had once put the fluid in motion within himself, 
it was necessary to let it pass off in the direction he had 
given it. He ceased, if at the end of a quarter of an hour 
his hands were not warmed. In the last case, he was sure 
that he had not acted ; in the first, he was sure of the con- 
trary ; and I have never seen him deceived, although at 
first the patient experienced nothing. 

I am acquainted with a lady, who, when she begins to 
magnetize, experiences much heat in the hands. After a 
sitting of three quarters of an hour, (more or less, which 
depends upon whether the person she magnetizes draws off 
more or less of the fluid,) her hands become very cold. 
Then she acts no more. The same thing takes place when 
she magnetizes water. Her magnetic faculties are re- 
established after an hour of repose, especially when she 
walks in the open air. 

Some magnetizers feel, at the end of several minutes, a 
correspondence which is established between their two 
hands, so that when they place one upon the stomach of the 
patient, and the other behind his back, it seems to them as 



226 TO DEVELOPE IN OURSELVES [CHAP. VIII. 

if their bands touched each other. This sensation proves 
that the fluid penetrates the patient. 

Let us now come to the effects produced upon the mag. 
netizer by the reaction of his patient. These effects occur 
only when the communication is well established. They 
can manifest themselves to a greater or less degree by three 
phenomena of a different order. The first of these phe- 
nomena is very ordinary, and known to a great number of 
magnetizers. The two others do not show themselves dis- 
tinctly except to those who have made them an object of 
incessant study ; perhaps it is even necessary to have pecu- 
liar dispositions to acquire the knowledge of them. 

I here stop a moment to tell the means which the author 
of the work published by M. de Lausanne has pointed out 
to establish the intimate communication which is necessary 
to the end which he proposes, namely, the examination of 
diseases. 

Place yourself in such a manner that all the parts of your 
body may be as much as possible opposite to the corres- 
ponding parts of the patient's body, and hold him by the 
thumbs six or eight minutes, directing your will and con- 
centrating your attention upon him. Then make very slow 
passes along the arms and before the body, from the head 
to the feet, or at least to the knees. Withdraw yourself by 
degrees to make passes at first at the distance of an inch, 
then at several inches, giving to your hands only the force 
necessary to sustain them ; continuing to observe well all 
your sensations. 

Here I will tell you what you will experience, in a man- 
ner more or less sensible, perhaps at the first time, perhaps 
at the end of eight or ten sittings, perhaps only at the end 
of some months. I am ignorant whether there are persons 



CHAP. VIII.] THE MAGNETIC FACULTIES. 227 

who have not the necessary temperament to obtain this end. 
To determine this, it would be requisite to know whether 
they who have never attained it, have not like me failed in 
patience and perseverance in their researches, and whether 
the habit of magnetizing without taking notice of their sen- 
sations, has not hindered them from following the necessary 
course to develope them. 

These are the three phenomena, and this is the advantage 
derivable from them. 

1. While drawing your hands slowly before your pa- 
tient at the distance of three or four inches, and holding 
your fingers slightly bent, you will feel, either at the ends of 
the fingers, or at the palm of the hand, different sensations 
as they pass along before the affected organ of the patient. 
These sensations will be either of cold, or of prickly heat, 
or of slight pain, or of numbness. They will indicate to 
you the principal seat of the disease, and consequently the 
part upon which you ought to direct the action. 

2, You may experience a feeling of pain or a difficulty 
in the internal organs of your body, corresponding with 
those which are affected in your patient. This is a sympa- 
thetic action noticed in many somnambulists. It is evident 
that this sensation intimates to us the seat and the nature of 
the disease, I will add one thing, the reason of which I 
will soon explain. If you experience pain in an organ on 
the right or on the left of your body, you should first ap- 
proach by little and little to render the sensation more strong, 
and then withdraw yourself gradually to the distance of two 
or three feet ; for it may be that the affected organ of your 
patient may act at a little distance upon the organ in you 
which is opposite ; that his spleen, for instance, may make 
its action be felt upon your liver; but by withdrawing 



228 TO DEVELOPE IN OURSELVES [CHAP. VIII. 

yourself, you may be sure that the sensation will be trans- 
ferred from the right, to the analagous organ on the left. 

3. And here there is something more important which 
has been unhappily too much neglected in our day. You 
will perceive, as it were, a vapor which escapes from certain 
parts of the body of your patient and takes a certain direc- 
tion. This vapor will act upon you as a slight force which 
will attract or repel your hand, and which will conduct it 
from one place to another, provided you abandon yourself 
entirely to its action. 

These are what are called the currents. The faculty of 
perceiving them is often acquired only after a time, longer 
or shorter ; but when they are once recognised, you will 
follow them naturally, you magnetize as it were by in- 
stinct ; you will second nature by carrying the vital action 
upon the deficient organ ; you will augment or moderate 
your force at will. It is by these currents that the analo- 
gous organs of the magnetizer are sometimes affected. 

The currents will enable you to perceive a crisis which is 
at hand. They also indicate the moment when it is terminat- 
ed, for then calmness is re-established. You are withdrawn 
far from the body, and you feel nothing further to attract you 
to it. They also enable you to discover the principal focus of 
the disease, and they direct you to follow all its ramifications. 
A very severe disorder of the liver, or of the spleen, or of some 
other viscus of the abdomen, is often accompanied with no 
pain in that organ ; but it produces either headaches, or oph- 
thalmias, or earaches, or appearances of an affection of the 
chest. The currents conduct you to the part where the cause 
of the disease resides, they direct your action, they can even 
indicate to the physician the remedies to be employed to aid 
and favor the work of nature, excited by magnetism. 



CHAP. Villi] THE MAGNETIC FACULTIES. 229 

It is almost useless to say that to observe the currents 
carefully, the magnetizer must be free from distraction ; but 
it is well to remark, that when he has once habituated him- 
self to being directed by them, he needs to make no effort 
of attention to follow them. 

I am acquainted with a man who was closely allied to 
him whose work I have cited. He perceives the disorder 
of those whom he magnetizes ; he experiences beforehand, 
and sometimes in a very painful manner, the crises which 
they are soon to experience, and which he developes in 
them. When he is in communication, he examines succes- 
sively all the parts of the patient's body, he shuts his eyes, 
and concentrates his attention. He very soon perceives his 
hand to be as it were wrapped in a vapor, the current of 
which he follows involuntarily, and this vapor conducts him 
by different routes to the place where it must stop. I have 
sometimes seen him magnetize several hours in succession. 
He does not cease until the crisis is terminated. 

I will enter into no further details concerning the currents, 
because those who shall once have acquired the faculty of 
perceiving them, will read the work I have cited, and then 
conduct themselves according to the experience they will 
soon secure. But I ought to add something relative to the 
sensations which are felt at the ends of the fingers, at the 
roots of the nails, or in the palm of the hand, because this 
phenomenon is more frequent, and it is good to be aware of 
the indications thence to be derived, according to the opinions 
of those who have observed them. What I am going to say 
on this subject, is extracted from the work entitled " Principes 
du Magnetisme," and from that of Doctor Maineduc. 

"A sensation of cold almost always indicates an obstruc- 
tion, an enlargement, inaction, or a stagnation of the hu- 



230 TO DEVELOPE IN OURSELVES [CHAP. VIIu 

mors. You must at first exert a gentle and soothing action, 
augment it gradually, concentrate it upon the spot that im- 
parts the cold, and then spread it out to re-establish the 
equilibrium. If the patient feels a sensation of cold from 
your hand, you should continue until you have changed it 
into a sensation of gentle heat, in which you will not always 
succeed at the first sitting." — Prin. du Mag. 

"A dry and burning heat announces a great tension of 
the fibres, and inflammation. You must use the circular 
motion, to spread the fluid, until this heat becomes gentle 
and moist . ' ' — Ibid. 

"The pricking sensations at the ends of your fingers, in- 
dicate the existence of a humor more or less acrid, if they 
are felt when you hold them before the viscera ; they are 
the proof of an irritation, and of what is commonly called 
acrimony (acrete) in the blood, if they are perceived when 
you touch the head or the arm." — Ibid. 

"Numbness at the ends of your fingers indicates want of 
circulation. You must then magnetize with activity, to re- 
establish the currents." — Ibid. 

" The magnetizer sometimes feels a fluctuating movement 
in his hands and fingers. This indicates a movement of the 
patient's blood, and an incipient evacuation, which you must 
favor, by making passes along the sides and thighs." — Ibid. 
"When there is sordes (glaires) in the stomach or lungs, 
the magnetizer experiences a sensation of thickness and 
stiffness of the fingers. Sometimes he feels at the ends of 
the fingers a circular pressure, as though a thread was 
bound round them." — Maineduc. 

" When the nerves have lost their tone, he perceives a 
weakness in his fingers and wrist." — Ibid. 



CHAP. VIII.] ' THE MAGNETIC FACULTIES. 231 

" In obstructions, the magnetizer has a sensation of acri- 
mony, dryness, contraction, and formication, if there is no 
inflammation ; and of heat, if there is inflammation." — Ibid. 

"Contusions produce heaviness and swelling in the hand. 
—Ibid. 

" The presence of worms excites formication and pinching 
(pincement) in the fingers." — Ibid. 

I will say no more on this subject, because if it appears 
to me indisputable that the sensations experienced by the 
magnetizer indicate the seat of the disease, it seems very 
doubtful whether he can, by means of them, determine its 
character. 

We are indebted to M. Babst for the knowledge of the 
means of exploring the nature of a disease, in which he has 
always succeeded. He has observed that when he puts his 
hand upon the seat of the disease, the pulse is raised. In 
consequence, after being put in communication, he draws 
his right hand slowly before the body of the patient, he 
holds at the same time his left hand closed, so as to feel 
the pulsation of the artery in the thumb, and directs all 
his attention to that hand. When the pulsations are accel- 
erated, he stops ; and if the acceleration continues, he con- 
cludes that he has found the seat of the disorder. I have 
tried in vain to experience this effect, but I advise magnet- 
izers to observe it. It seems to me that a person might feel 
more distinctly the acceleration of the arterial movement, by 
placing a finger of the left hand upon the temporal artery. 

The theory treated of in this chapter will not be of much 
utility to the greater part of the persons to whom this in- 
struction is addressed ; but as many of them will be disposed 
to acquire the faculties of which I speak, I thought it my 

duty to point out the means of developing them. Let not 
u* 



232 TO DEVELOPE IN OURSELVES, &C. [CHAP. VI11. 

others be disquieted on this account ; by conforming to the 
principles I have given, they will be always sure of doing 
much good. 

Magnetism considered as a means of relieving our fellow- 
men, of aiding the action of nature, of facilitating the crises, 
of assisting ordinary medicine, is an instrument of charity 
which all men of good intentions may employ with success, 
without any study, without any knowledge of the physical 
sciences. One might even say that an innate instinct often 
induces us to exercise it ; and perhaps the practice of ob- 
serving every thing, of explaining every thing, of admitting 
nothing which lacks accordance with our acquired notions, 
of rejecting every thing of which our senses do not afford 
a direct proof, and every thing not found in the philosophy 
we have adopted, is much less favorable to the exercise of 
this faculty than a benevolent simplicity unaccustomed to 
investigation and discussion. Why do children whom we 
have seen magnetize, magnetize with success ? They do 
not account for what they do, but they believe, they will, 
and they perform cures in proportion to their strength. 

Yet magnetism presents phenomena which may enlight- 
en us upon our physical organization, and upon the faculties 
of our soul. It is an action in living beings resembling at- 
traction in inanimate matter. This action hath its laws. 
Let physicians, physiologists, and metaphysicians, unite to 
study them, and they will soon make a science whose appli- 
cation will add much to the various branches of knowledge 
which are destined to strengthen the ties that bind men 
together, and diminish the ills to which they are exposed. 



CHAPTER IX. 

OF THE ACCESSORY MEANS TO INCREASE THE 

MAGNETIC ACTION, AND OF THOSE BY WHICH 

THE DIRECT ACTION IS SUPPLIED. 

The magnetizer can communicate his fluid to many 
objects, and these objects become either the conductors of 
his action, or proper instruments of its transmission, and 
produce magnetic effects upon persons with whom he is in 
communication. He can also, by means of some one of 
these auxiliaries, and without faiiguing himself, conduct the 
treatment of many patients at the same time, when they are 
not somnambulists. 

These auxiliaries are water, woollen, cotton cloth, plates 
of glass, &c. which have been magnetized ; magnetized 
trees, and magnetic troughs or reservoirs. The chain, or 
the union of many persons holding each other by the hands, 
and in harmony under the direction of one magnetizer, is 
also among the auxiliary means. 

Magnetized water is one of the most powerful and salu- 
tary agents that can be employed. The patients are made 
to drink of it, when the communication is established, either 
at or between their meals. It carries the magnetic fluid 
directly into the stomach, and thence into all the organs. 
It facilitates the crises to which nature is disposed, and 
therefore sometimes excites the perspiration, sometimes the 
evacuations, and sometimes the circulation of the blood. It 



234 TO AUGMENT THE ACTION, AND [CHAP. IX. 

strengthens the stomach, appeases pains, and often supplies 
the place of several medicaments. 

To magnetize water, take the vessel which contains it, 
and pass the two hands alternately from the top to the bot- 
tom of the vessel. Introduce the fluid at the opening of the 
vessel by presenting the fingers close to it, several times in 
succession. Sometimes you may breathe upon the water, 
or stir it round with the thumb. You may magnetize a 
glass of water, by holding it by the bottom in one hand, 
and with the other, throwing the fluid upon the glass. 

There is one process which I employ in preference, in 
order to magnetize a bottle of water, when I am certain it 
is not disagreeable to the person whom I magnetize. It 
consists in placing the bottle upon my knee, and applying 
my mouth to the nose. I thus throw my breath into the 
bottle, and at the same time I make passes with both hands 
upon all the surface. I believe this process charges strong- 
ly, but it is not necessary. It is sufficient to magnetize it 
by the hands. 

One may magnetize a flagon of water in two or three 
minutes ; a glass of water in one minute. It is unnecessary 
to repeat here that the processes pointed out for magnetizing 
water, like every thing else, would be absolutely useless, 
if they were not employed with attention, and with a deter- 
minate will. 

I have seen magnetized water produce effects so marvel- 
lous, that I was afraid of having deceived myself, and could 
not be wholly convinced, until I had made a thousand ex- 
periments. Magnetizers in general have not made suffic- 
ient use of it. They would have spared themselves much 
fatigue, they could have dispensed with many medicines, 



CHAP. IX.] TO SUPPLY THE DIRECT ACTION. 235 

they would have hastened the cure, if they had accorded to 
this means all the confidence it merits. 

In internal diseases especially, magnetized water acts in 
an astonishing manner. It carries the magnetism directly 
to the organs affected. You give, for instance, a glass of 
magnetized water to one who has a pain in the side ; some 
minutes after he has drunk it, it seems to him as if that 
water had descended to the seat of the disease. For eight 
days in succesion, I have purged a patient with magnetized 
water. The effect was the same as if she had taken the 
ordinary medicine, with this difference, the operation was 
not attended with colic. Doctor Roullier says that one of 
his patients was thus purged five or six times a day for 
more than a month, and that the evacuations, the conse- 
quences of which under ordinary medicine would have justly 
excited alarm, procured ease and a return of health. I 
knew a patient who was cured in the same manner. I 
have seen magnetized water entirely overcome inactivity of 
the intestines which had lasted many years. 

Magnetized water is a very great help in convalescence. 
It gives strength ; it restores the tone of the stomach ; it 
renders digestion easy ; it throws off from the system, by 
perspiration or otherwise, every thing which resists the en- 
tire re-establishment of health. 

A man of merit, whom I have now the satisfaction of 
numbering among my friends, was affected with colic pains 
in the stomach and bowels, for which he had during seven 
years in vain employed all the remedies of medicine. They 
came on by crises which lasted two or three days, and re- 
turned every week. His residence was sixty leagues off, 
and he came to Paris to seek some further advice. He 
made application to me. He inspired me with much inter- 



236 TO AUGNENT THE ACTION, AND [CHAP. IX. 

est, and I undertook his treatment. After the third sitting, 
I made him drink a glass of magnetized water. It produced 
in his stomach a very great heat. He told me that it 
seemed to him as if he had drunk a glass of spirits of wine. 
Two minutes afterwards this, heat expanded through the 
whole system, and was followed by a gentle perspiration. 
From that moment I caused him to make use of the mag- 
netized water ; and in fifteen days I had the pleasure of 
delivering him from all his sufferings. He then wished to 
return home. " I am very well," said he, " but I am going 
to make a decisive experiment. I never could travel in a 
carriage without a great deal of pain." I gave him two 
bottles of magnetized water, and advised him to drink of 
them by the way. He had hardly been a half hour in 
the carriage, before he began to feel ill ; he then drank a 
glass of the water, and during more than four hours, he felt 
no further inconvenience. By thus drinking every four 
hours his glass of water, he reached home without the least 
fatigue. Yet he was not entirely cured ; and there remains 
in him the principle of disease, which it is perhaps impossible 
to destroy. But his wife magnetizes him when it appears 
requisite, and in the evening, when he finds himself indis- 
posed, she gives him a glass of magnetized water, which 
soothes him and makes him pass the night well. When 
he is obliged to travel, the magnetized water always ren- 
ders him the same service, and this experiment has been 
repeatedly tried for five years. 

J have several times made the experiment of putting a 
bottle of magnetized water at the feet of a patient, who. 
while in bed, was constantly cold at the feet ; and in certain 
cases, I have seen it excite a great deal of heat, and bring 
on a perspiration. The bottle acts here only as every other 



CHAP. IX.] TO SUPPLY THE DIRECT ACTION. 237 

magnetized object will. Nevertheless, the result of this 
experiment was remarkable, because a bottle of water ought 
to produce cold, and not heat, as it often happens when the 
patient is not disposed to this sort of crisis. 

Patients often perceive a peculiar taste in the magnetized 
water, and generally they distinguish it very well from that 
which is not magnetized. 

I thought I could see that the taste which the patient found 
in it, indicated the species of remedies of which he had need. 
For example, if he found it bitter, and yet drank it with 
pleasure, it gave grounds of presumption that bitter things 
were salutary to him. I have not made this observation 
frequently enough to state it as a fact. I mention it, be- 
cause, in many cases, any one can easily verify it. 

When the magnetizer cannot give his patient more than 
two or three sittings a week, magnetized water supplies the 
direct action. The use of it must be continued some time 
after the treatment has ceased. 

I am certain that with epileptics, or persons attacked with 
a nervous disease, which, to those who are not physicians, 
appears to be epilepsy, magnetized water, continued for 
many months after some sittings of direct magnetism, has 
caused the fits to disappear entirely. 

I believe that the water given to the patient to drink, 
ought always to be magnetized, by the same magnetizer 
who has undertaken the treatment. This is a consequence 
of the principle I have laid down, that a patient ought not 
to be magnetized by many persons who have not a perfect 
congeniality with the first magnetizer, and that the fluids 
of various individuals, not having the same quality, and not 
acting in the same manner, we ought not to unite their ac- 
tion. 



238 TO AUGMENT THE ACTION, AND [CHAP. IX. 

Some very remarkable phenomena confirm this opinion. 
Somnambulists distinguish very well when an object has 
been magnetized by several persons, and this mixture of 
divers fluids, is sometimes insupportable to them. 

We do not yet know how long the magnetized water pre- 
serves its virtue, but it certainly retains it for many days, 
and numerous facts seem to prove it not to have been lost 
after several weeks. Nevertheless, when one lives near 
the patient, it is proper to magnetize every day the water 
or other drinks of which he makes use. 

Some food, also, may be magnetized in the same manner, 
and especially liquid food, such as milk and broth. Many 
persons with whom milk does not agree, like it very well 
when it has been magnetized. 

It appears that magnetized water exercises no influence 
upon persons who have never been magnetized.* It gene- 
rally produces marked effects only after two or three sit- 
tings. In order to have the fluid of the magnetizer act upon 
the patient, the communication must be established ; and it 
is never established except by direct and immediate manip- 
ulation. 

I have extended my observations upon magnetized water 
very much, but those who make use of it with confidence, 
will discover that I have not said enough upon the advan- 



* Some observations recently communicated to me have convinced 
me that my conjecture was false, and that magnetized water does 
sometimes act in a very efficacious manner upon persons who have 
never been magnetized. I can cite, among other instances, that of 
a woman who had been troubled for a long time with dyspepsy, 
who was promptly cured by this means. 

Objects magnetized can in the same degree exert a very salutary 
action, although no communication has been previously established. 



CHAP. IX.] TO SUPPLY THE DIRECT ACTION. 239 

tages to be derived from it. Yet I ought to add, that there 
are some persons on whom it appears to exert no action. 
The number of these, however, is very small. 

Magnetized reservoirs or troughs, are vessels filled with 
magnetized materials, and provided with conductors to direct 
the fluid which they contain. The most common mode of 
constructing them is the following : 

Take a wooden vessel, two feet high, larger or smaller, 
according to the number of persons to be placed round it, 
having the bottom elevated an inch from the floor by the 
projection of the sides. Place an iron rod in the centre to 
serve as the principal conductor, having a diameter of half 
an inch or of one inch, descending to within two inches of 
the bottom, and rising above the trough two or three feet. 
The lower end of this iron rod should be firmly fixed in a 
glass foot, or in a jug, so that it may retain its vertical posi- 
tion. Put into the vessel bottles of magnetized water, or 
other magnetized substances ; cork them, and run through 
each cork a piece of iron wire, projecting two or three 
inches ; and arrange them in such a manner that the neck 
may be near the central conductor, and communicate with 
it by the iron wire which pierces the cork. Then place a 
second range of bottles above the first. If the baquet or 
trough is large, you can put two ranges of bottles in the 
same order ; the neck of one being placed in the bottom of 
the other. This being done, you will fill the vessel with 
water, white sand well washed, pounded glass, and iron 
filings, all well magnetized. Place upon it a cover in two 
pieces, fitted closely together, having an opening in the mid- 
die for the central conductor. At a short distance from the 
circumference, at points corresponding to the spaces between 
the bottles, you will pierce several holes for the purpose of 
v 



240 TO AUGMENT THE ACTION, AND [CHAP. IX. 

thrusting into the reservoir, iron conductors bent and movea- 
ble, which are raised and lowered at pleasure, so that one 
may direct them against any part of the body, and pass the 
hands above them to draw off the fluid. And lastly, you 
will attach to the central conductor, cords of cotton or wool, 
which the patients may twine around their bodies. 

Although every thing that is placed in the reservoir has 
been magnetized beforehand, the reservoir is to be regular- 
ly magnetized, when its construction has been completed, 
before the cover is placed upon it. When first this ope- 
ration is performed it takes a considerable time, nearly an 
hour. It is even proper to repeat it three or four days in 
succession. But when once the reservoir has been well 
charged, it is readily charged again, by the magnetizer's 
holding the central conductor in his hands several minutes. 
I do not know whether reservoirs filled with water are more 
easily charged with the magnetic fluid, than those which 
contain between* the bottles only pounded glass, iron filings, 
or simply sand ; but it is certain that these last are more pro- 
per and convenient, and for this reason I give them the pre- 
ference. It is difficult to prevent the water's escaping from 
the baquet, and it might become foul in the course of time. 
The same magnetizer ought always to charge the reservoir. 

I will say no more about the large magnetic reservoirs, 
because we dp not have recourse to them except when we 
wish to magnetize a great number ; in which case we ought 
to have a great deal of leisure and devote ourselves to mag- 
netism. Fie who does this ought to procure the principal 
works published on this subject and to study them with care. 
But a large bottle filled with magnetized water, furnished 
with an iron wire inserted into the cork, and forming a cur- 
vature of from three to six inches terminated by a knob, is 



CHAP. IX.] TO SUPPLY THE DIRECT ACTION. 241 

a little reservoir which keeps up the magnetic action, and 
may be very useful. The magnetizer charges this bottle 
occasionally without taking out the cork. 

The water contained in bottles placed upon the reservoir, 
and put in communication, by an iron wire, with the central 
conductor, becomes magnetized of itself. 

You might place on the top of the central conductor a 
small cap of iron or of wood, in which you have put silk or 
cotton, which will become very strongly magnetized. 

We now come to discourse of magnetized objects, of the 
mode of using them, and of the effects they produce. 

Tissues wrought in silk or cotton thread, the leaf of a 
tree, plates of glass, gold or steel,* and other magnetized 
objects placed upon the seat of the pain, are often sufficient 
to ease it ; but they produce no effect until the magnetic 
action has been established. I have very often seen mag- 
netized socks produce a warmth of the feet which could not 
have been obtained by any other means. These socks pre- 
serve their virtue during four or five days. It then grows 
feeble and is lost. 

A magnetized handkerchief carried upon the stomach, 
sustains the action during the interval of the sittings, and 
often calms spasms and nervous movements. Sometimes 
the headache is dissipated by inveloping the head during 
the night with a magnetized bandage. 

I ought to speak here of the use which is made of plates 
of glass magnetized, both because I have often succeeded 
by means of them, in calming, with surprising ease, local 
pains in the viscera, and because their application is usually 
accompanied with a very remarkable phenomenon. 

* Metals whose oxides are dangerous must not be used for this 
purpose. 



242 TO AUGMENT THE ACTION, AND [CHAP. IX. 

It now remains to speak of the chain, a method formerly 
in great vogue, and which is the most effectual of all for 
augmenting the power of magnetism and putting it in cir- 
culation, but which, though it has great advantages, has 
also great inconveniences. I am going to explain what it 
is, how it is formed, and under what circumstances and con- 
ditions it may be useful. 

If you have near you many persons in good health, who 
have confidence in magnetism, who feel an interest in the 
patient, and who wish to, aid you in the cure, arrange them 
in a circle. Let them all take each other's hands, holding 
on by the thumbs, so that he who is on the right of the pa- 
tient, may touch him with the left hand, and he who is on 
the left may touch him with the right hand. You will form 
a part of this chain, and when you wish to make passes with 
your hands, the two persons by the side of you will place 
their hands upon your shoulders, or upon your knees. If 
you place yourself in the centre, your two neighbors will 
approach each other so that the chain be not interrupted. 
The magnetic fluid will be soon in circulation, the patient 
will feel the effect strongly, and your power will be consid- 
erably augmented. 

But, to have a chain good, it is necessary that all who 
compose it should be thoughtful only of the patient, and unite 
constantly with you in intention ; without this condition, it 
is more injurious than beneficial. Some persons in the chain 
often feel the effects of the magnetic action ; they faint, or 
go to sleep. But that does not counteract the effects so 
much as a single act of inattention. 

You should avoid admitting into the chain patients sus- 
ceptible of nervous irritation. It would be dangerous to put 
persons there who are tainted with contageous diseases. 



CHAP. IX.] TO SUPPLY THE DIRECT ACTION. 243 

The chain might be made use of in families, when there 
are to be found from four to six persons who take a lively 
interest in the patient, and who desire that magnetism may 
be of advantage to him. 

The chain should, as far as possible, be composed of the 
same persons. If a new individual be admitted into it, es- 
pecially after it has been once formed, he ought first to be 
placed in communication. 

Although the baquet has a milder and slower action than 
direct manipulation, persons attacked with severe diseases 
which do not spring from morbid inaction, are exposed to 
crises which should be soothed apart. When these crises 
occur, they may have influence upon the other patients, and 
even be communicated by sympathy or by imitation. We 
know how violent these crises may become, when we re- 
member how they were in the time of Mesmer. It is true, 
we did not then understand how to calm them, and the same 
accidents did not take place at Strasburg, yet it is always 
proper to take precautions ; and if you assemble a large 
number around the baquet, it is necessary to have several 
magnetizers, and one of them should have an acquaintance 
with medicine. I think then that in the domestic practice 
of magnetism, it is not necessary to make use of the baquet 
for nervous affections, but solely for such diseases as inter- 
mittent fevers, dropsy, enlargements of the glands, rheumatic 
pains, debility, sluggish circulation, &c. In these it would 
be very useful to the patient to go every day and charge 
himself with magnetism at the baquet, previously to being 
magnetized by direct manipulation. 

As to the chain, several conditions are requisite, which 
are often difficult to fulfil. 1st. All who compose it ought 
to be in good health. 2d. They should be such as have an 



Y* 



244 To AUGMENT THE ACTION, &C. [cHAP. IX. 

interest in the sick person. 3d. No one of them should in- 
terrupt the action, either by his curiosity, or by the desire 
of exerting a particular influence. 

All these conditions having been fulfilled in some treatments 
which I have pursued, I have obtained from it very ener- 
getic and very salutary effects ; but when one of these condi- 
tions fails, I have known it to be more injurious than useful, 

In diseases of the lymphatic system, in those of inaction, 
&c, it is doubtless beneficial to have recourse to the chain, 
if it be possible to form a good one. In disorders of the 
nervous system, or of certain viscera, disorders whose treat- 
ment exhibits crises, and especially in those where somnam- 
bulism takes place, it is absolutely necessary that the patient 
should have near him only his magnetizer, and the person he 
has chosen from the commencement to assist at the sittings, 

It is essential that the most perfect harmony should reign 
in a magnetic treatment ; and this cannot be obtained unless 
all things are directed by a single will, to which all the 
others are in unison. Hence it follows, that in a magnetic 
treatment, whatever may be the number of the patients, and 
of magnetizers, there ought to be but one chief to whom all 
those who co-operate in the action shall be in submission 
during the sitting. If he who has established the treatment, 
and charged himself with its direction, has for co-operators 
persons better informed or more powerful than himself, he 
must not invite them to take the lead ; and they must be very 
cautious not to exert a direct influence. They will regard 
themselves merely as the aids and the instruments of the 
leader, and must magnetize under his direction, following 
the processes which he points out to them. The observance 
of this rule is especially important when there are somnam- 
bulists, I speak of this in my chapter on somnambulism. 



CHAPTER X. 

OF THE STUDIES BY WHICH A PERSON MAY 

PERFECT HIMSELF IN THE KNOWLEDGE 

OF MAGNETISM. 

Magnetism may be considered under two points of view : 
either as the mere employment of a faculty which God has 
given us, or as a science whose theory embraces the great- 
est problems of physiology and psychology, and whose ap- 
plications are extremely varied. 

Hence it follows that the persons who are engaged in this 
subject, may be divided into two classes. 

The first class comprehends those, who, having recog- 
nised in themselves the faculty of doing good by magnet- 
ism, or at least hoping to succeed therein, wish to make use 
of it in their families, or among their friends, or with some 
poor patients, but who, having duties to fulfil or business to 
follow, do not magnetize except in circumstances where it 
appears to them necessary, without seeking publicity, with- 
out any motive but that of charity, without any other aim 
than that of curing or relieving suffering humanity. 

The second class is composed of men, who, having leis- 
ure, wish to join to the practice of magnetism, the study of 
the phenomena it exhibits, to enter largely into it, to estab- 
lish treatments for taking care of several patients at a time, 
to form pupils capable of aiding them, to have somnambu- 
lists who may enlighten them, to examine closely, compare 
and arrange the phenomena, in such a way as to establish 
a regular code of laws whose principles may be certain, 



246 OF THE STUDIES APPERTAINING [CHAP. X. 

and whose consequences extending daily, may lead to new 
appiications. 

This class is separated from the preceding by a great 
number of degrees which must be successively mounted, 
before one can find himself situated where he can command 
a more extended horizon. I therefore advise those of the 
former class not to think of passing beyond their limits un- 
less they are masters of their own time, and have some 
preliminary knowledge. Their lot is very good ; they are 
strangers to the vanities and the inquietudes which attend 
new attempts, to the uncertainty which springs from the 
conflict of opinions and of various points of view under 
which things are presented to us ; they taste without mix- 
ture or distraction the satisfaction of doing good. May they 
be so wise as not to meddle with any theory or to search 
for extraordinary phenomena. Let them continue to em- 
ploy with confidence and self-collectedness the processes 
by which they Kave succeeded, without any other design 
than to benefit the patient in whom they are interested. 
When they have obtained a cure, they will speak of it un- 
boastingly, so as to engage other persons to employ the 
same means. The instruction I am publishing is sufficient 
to direct them in all cases ; they will not even need to have 
recourse to it except according to circumstances. 

As to the persons who desire to belong to the second 
class, I advise them to consider at first the extent of the 
career they will have to run. It is better not to enter it, 
than to stop in the midst of their enterprise. In what ap- 
pertains to the practice, a prudent simplicity is preferable to 
science. In what relates to theory, imperfect notions ex- 
pose us to dangerous errors. The laborer who cultivates 
his farm as his fathers did before him, collects every year 



CHAP. X.] TO A KNOWLEDGE OF MAGNETISM. 247 

the price of his labors. Should he give way to an inclina- 
tion to pursue an experimental method, he might be ruined 
before he is enlightened by his own experience. 

It is not in my power to impart to others much of the 
knowledge they ought to have ; but I perceive the need of 
it. I see the superiority of those who possess it ; and I 
could point out the mode they must pursue to acquire it, and 
especially the disposition of mind which is requisite to direct 
its application to the object in view. 

I think it useful therefore to end this work with some ad- 
vice to those who wish to elevate themselves into the region 
of which I have only had a glimpse, but the chart of which 
is well known to me through the relations of those who have 
run over it with more or less success. I suppose the men 
whom I now address to be entirely convinced of the power 
of magnetism, and to have recognised in themselves the 
faculty of using it, and of producing the most surprising and 
the most salutary effects. Without this first condition, 
what I am going to say would be to them absolutely useless. 
It is desirable that persons who wish to study this sub- 
ject thoroughly, should have at first some elementary no- 
tions of physics, of anatomy, of physiology and of medicine, 
in order to appreciate the facta, and to avoid being duped 
by the errors which are found in various books. There is 
also a necessity for them to be versed in that part of philos- 
ophy which treats of the origin of ideas, of the develope- 
ment and of the relation of the various faculties of the soul, 
so that the view of certain marvellous facts may not precip- 
itate them into false systems. 

Supposing a person to have the dispositions, the faculties 
and the preliminary knowledge of which I speak, he must 
read in order what has been written upon magnetism. I 



248 0F ™E STUDIES APPERTAINING [CHAP. X. 

think that they who are not acquainted with foreign lan- 
guages may commence with my Critical History, not be- 
cause this work is worth more than many others, but be- 
cause it presents in a mass, and gives an idea of, the history, 
the proofs, the processes, the phenomena, the application to 
the cure of diseases, the means of avoiding the inconveniences, 
and finally, because it contains a succinct notice of all the 
books which have appeared in France upon the same sub- 
ject at the time when it was published. 

To those books, which I have classified, may be added 
Les Annales due Magnetisme, La Bibliotheque du Mag. 
netisme, and other works recently printed, of which it is 
easy to procure a catalogue. You should not neglect to 
inform yourself of the objections made by physicians, and 
of the explanations they have given of the phenomena, the 
reality of which they do not deny.* 

You will consult the works on medicine and physiology, 
in which the authors, treating of questions foreign to magnet- 
ism, have been led to assent to its action and to the effects 
it produces. Such is the work of M. Georget, entitled 
" Physiologie du Systeme Nerveux." You will also exam- 



* You will find in my " Defence of Magnetism," some references 
to most of the articles in which it has been attacked. Those objec- 
tions which it is essential to know, were afterwards collected, and 
presented with much talent in the article - Mesmerism," in the 
Encyclopaedia. I owe thanks to the author of the article for the 
great politeness with which he has spoken of me. I do not think 
myself deserving of the eulogium he passes upon me ; but I think if 
his article had not been composed before the publication of my 
" Defence of Magnetism," he would have found in it a solution of 
most of the difficulties he proposes ; and I would have voluntarily 
depended upon his judgment. 



CHAP. X.] TO A KNOWLEDGE OF MAGNETISM. 249 

ine into the nature of the diseases in which some of the most 
extraordinary phenomena of magnetism are spontaneously 
presented, as may be seen in the work of Doctor Petetin, 
and in the history of Mademoiselle Julie, by M. le Baron 
de Strombeck. 

You will not fail also to read the fine dissertation of Van 
Helmont, the writings of Maxwell, of Wirdig, and other 
authors of the same time, who are quoted by Thouret in his 
"Recherches et-Doutes," although he read them superficially. 

But the instruction to be obtained from French and Latin 
books, is nothing compared to what may be obtained by 
those who are acquainted with foreign languages. The 
Dutch work of the celebrated Dr. Backer de Groningue, 
contains excellent precepts and very curious facts ; and the 
German works of Kluge, Wienholt, Wolfart, Eschenmayer 
Passivant, Ennemoser, Kieser, and Nees-von-Esenbeck, are 
an inexhaustible mine. All these authors agree to the 
same facts ; they differ in regard to method and explanation; 
they have combined the knowledge acquired by magnetism 
with what they have drawn from other sciences; and several 
of them have associated the theory of magnetism with the 
most elevated philosophy. Ennemoser has much erudition ; 
and although not much of a critic, he points out traces of 
magnetism in the historians and philosophers of antiquity. 
Kluge was the first to give a classical work, in which phe- 
nomena are compared and explained by a very ingenious 
hypothesis, based chiefly upon anatomy and physiology. 
Wienholt collects a great number of facts carefully observed, 
and ingenuously discussed. Wolfart has published in sue- 
cession all that he has observed, either in his individual prac- 
tice or in his public treatment, in which he is aided by sev- 
eral of his pupils. He has thrown great light upon the ap- 



250 



OF THE STUDIES APPERTAINING [CHAP. X, 



plication of magnetism to the cure of diseases. He adopt- 
ed, expanded, and rectified the theory of Mesrner. Eschen- 
mayer admits the existence of an organic ether, spread every 
where, and much more subtile than light. In other respects 
he is a metaphysical spiritualist. Passivant unites his the- 
ory to the most touching and sublime religious sentiments. 
His work carries light to the head, and charity to the heart. 
Kieser is a bold and systematic genius, who searches for 
the explanation of the phenomena, in a very singular theory 
of the general system of nature. Nees-von-Esenbeck, and 
the authors of " Hermes," modified the hypothesis of Kieser. 
Without adopting the opinions of these various authors, you 
will at least derive this advantage from the study of them, 
namely, the certainty of the principles in which they all 
agree, and the facts upon which they equally depend, which 
have been observed with the greatest care. 

In studying these various works upon magnetism, we 
ought not to lose any opportunity to make observations for 
ourselves. I ought here to lay it down as an important 
principle, unhappily too much neglected, not. only by those 
who are pursuing these investigations by themselves, but 
still more by those who have undertaken the task of en. 
lightening others by their writings. 

In all sciences we should commence by the most simple 
principles, and pass, by degrees, to such as are complex. 
The solution of the highest problems in physics, would be 
unintelligible to him who is ignorant of the laws of motion, 
and the action of electricity and caloric. It is the same in 
the study of this subject. You should begin by closely 
examining the most simple and the most common effects, 
such as are daily produced with perfect facility ; such as 
merely prove that magnetism produces influences which 



CHAP. X.] TO A KNOWLEDGE OF MAGNETISM. 251 

are peculiar to itself, before we think of taking notice of 
the striking phenomena, such as somnambulism ; for these 
are complicated by several causes which it is first necessary 
to study separately. 

While reading works published upon magnetism, you 
should not neglect to form acquaintance with persons who 
practise it, to see, test, and collect new phenomena, to dis- 
tinguish what is common to all, and what is peculiar to each 
of them. You will endeavor to discriminate in the various 
phenomena which the same somnambulist often presents, 
those which originate in the action of the magnetizer, from 
those which may have been produced or modified by the 
will or by the imagination of the patient ; those which are 
owing to a very great excitation of the organs of sense, 
from those which announce the developement of a peculiar 
sense ; finally those which demonstrate a clairvoyance 
more or less extensive, but which is displayed only in re- 
gard to real and sensible objects, from those where the same 
clairvoyance is clouded with illusions. You will also ex- 
amine whether there is not a magnetic force pervading na- 
ture which acts upon men when disposed to receive it, and 
which is placed in circumstances that may concentrate 
and direct it. 

After having collected a great number of phenomena, 
you should endeavor to class and compare them, and to es- 
tablish a theory resulting from this comparison, if per- 
chance we have arrived to the point where it would be truly 
philosophical to form a theory. Up to the present time, 
nearly all the writers who have wished to lay down general 
principles, have founded them upon some facts of the same 
order, without regard to other facts to which they are not 

applicable. This is very natural, for the reason that the 
w 



252 OF THE STUDIES APPERTAINING [CHAP. X. 

somnambulists of the same magnetizer have generally a 
certain analogy among themselves, because of the identity 
of the influence exerted over them. Hence, to discover 
general laws, it is necessary not only to have seen many 
facts with your own eyes, but to have collected a great 
number of others, which are to be carefully proven, and all 
their circumstances scrutinized. 

As to the curative action of magnetism, independently of 
the indications which somnambulism has been able to fur- 
nish, we cannot know how far it extends, in what diseases 
and upon what temperaments it is most efficacious, until 
physicians shall have submitted to the magnetic treatment 
a great number of patients whom they have examined be- 
fore the treatment, to determine the nature of the disease, 
and to know if it be curable by ordinary means, and after 
the treatment, to judge of the changes that may have been 
produced. Yet the multitude of cures effected in a short 
time by the magnetic practice, in certain disorders whose 
character is well marked, such as rheumatisms, intermittent 
fevers, glandular enlargements, contusions, &c, is a proof 
of its efficaciousness in diseases of the same kind. 

I have now pointed out the kinds of knowledge to be 
acquired, and the objects requiring attention, if you wish to 
examine the general subject of magnetism, to determine the 
rank it occupies among the grand phenomena of animated 
nature, to discover its laws and to fix its applications. But 
I have not yet spoken of the plan to be pursued to gain skill 
in the practice, without which the notions drawn from books 
amount to nothing. I have merely said it is necessary to 
pass from the most simple to the most complex facts, and 
this is all that the method of study proper for magnetism 
has in common with what is appropriate to other sciences. 



CHAP. X.] TO A KNOWLEDGE OF MAGNETISM. 253 

In these the more ardor one has for the work, the more 
activity in vanquishing obstacles, the more desire of discov- 
ering truth, the greater will be his progress. In the inves- 
tigation of magnetism, these qualities would be more injuri- 
ous than useful, if they were not united with much reserve, 
patience and moderation. In the physical sciences and 
even in medicine, there are two means of acquiring knowl- 
edge — observation and experiment ; in the practice of mag- 
netism there is but one, for he who magnetizes ought never 
to make experiments. He should let the phenomena pre- 
sent and develope themselves, and note them down after 
each sitting. 

The most difficult thing for a magnetizer who wishes to 
gain instruction, is, that he must have in himself, as it were, 
two persons who must not exist together, but successively ; 
one to act, and the other to reason. 

While you are magnetizing, you must occupy yourself 
wholly with the cure of the patient, to whom you have de- 
voted your time. You must not investigate, you must not 
take note of any thing, you must withdraw from all preju- 
dices, opinions, and knowledge ; even reason itself ought not 
to be busy ; the soul ought to have but one faculty active, the 
will to do good ; the mind but one idea, confidence of suc- 



cess.* 



* You must conform to this precept not only when you are your- 
self magnetizing, but also when you are admitted to see phenomena. 
You must then unite intentions with the magnetizer, and look on 
attentively without permitting yourself to form any judgment. In 
a word, you must conduct yourself when you assist at a magnetic 
sitting, just as if you were carrying on the process yourself, with 
this single difference, that, when you are merely a witness, you must 
not exert your will but in subordination to that of the magnetizer. 



254 OF THE STUDIES APPERTAINING [CHAP. X. 

But after the termination of the sitting, you will recal to 
your mind what you have seen ; you will take note of it, 
you will combine all the circumstances, search into the 
causes, and try to reach results which will be more certain 
as succeeding observations confirm them. The magnetizer, 
while acting, should have unbounded confidence ; he should 
doubt of nothing. But when he takes note of the phenom- 
ena presented to him, he should be distrustful, doubtful of 
every thing, and admit no fact except upon incontestible evi- 
dence ; no principle, unless supported by a series of obser- 
vations congruent with themselves, and which are not con- 
trary to any of the received truths of physics and physiology. 

This self-denial is a thing very difficult to men habituated 
to observe coolly, and to men who suffer themselves to be 
carried off by their imagination. And this is the reason 
why men who possess simplicity of character and little 
knowledge of the subject, are often more proper to cure dis- 
eases, than those who are versed in the sciences, and espe- 
cially than those who have a lively imagination. 

Greatrakes, the Irish gentleman, who was so successful 
in curing various diseases, was neither a learned man, nor 
an enthusiast. 

Many rustics and matrons, who believe they possess the 
gift of healing, some of them, bruises ; others, the toothache ; 
and others, attacks of fevers ; often succeed ; and if they 
were more enlightened they might not succeed so well. 

When I laid it down as a principle that the magnetizer 
ought to interdict himself from all experiment, I wished to 
speak solely of the direct action which one individual exerts 
over another by an emanation from himself, imparted by 
his will and by the appropriate processes, and of the natu- 
ral developement of phenomena which this action produces. 



CHAP. X.] TO A KNOWLEDGE OF MAGNETISM. 255 

But this principle is no longer applicable, or at least it should 
be modified, as it respects modes of treatment, or the means 
of directing, strengthening, and concentrating the action 
which magnetism may exert of itself, when once put in mo- 
tion. Unon this subject, a man who has well studied the 
particular effects of this agent, and who has an acquaintance 
with the physical and natural sciences, ought to permit him- 
self various trials to ascertain the best means of employing 
it. For instance, what relates to the construction of ba- 
quets or magnetic reservoirs, to the direction of extensive 
treatments, to the employment of the chain and to the pre- 
cautions its requires, to the influence exerted by certain sub- 
stances, to the property which certain substances have of 
imparting a particular quality to the fluid passing through 
them, to the question whether there are bodies which inso- 
late the magnetic fluid* or retard its action, and others which 
are conductors of its action or concentrate it so as to render 
it stronger, to the difference which the seasons, the hour of 
the day, the presence or the absence of the light, the tern- 
perature, the state of the atmosphere, &c, can make in the 
effects of magnetism ; and finally, to the action of magnet- 

*What we call the magnetic fluid, may be, as Van Helmont 
thought, and as Kieser believes, an agent which penetrates all bod- 
ies. The recent discoveries of M. (Ersted, of M. Ampere, and of 
many other celebrated physicians ; the researches of Messieurs 
Provost and Dumas and of various physiologists, upon the influence 
of electricity in the phenomena of the animal economy; the obser- 
vations of M. de Humboldt upon the electric gymnotus, &c, may 
give us some light upon this subject. But the problem does not 
consist in this ; it is in the power which man has of directing this 
fluid, of modifying it, of communicating to it such or such a virtue. 
This problem I believe to be incapable of solution, because our ex- 
ternal senses teach us nothing upon the internal principle of life. 



W* 



256 OF THE STUDIES APPERTAINING [CHAP. X. 

ism upon animals, and even upon vegetables. All this can. 
not be known except by trials made prudently, but fre- 
quently, and taking note of all the circumstances. Let no 
one be in haste to form a theory ; for it is easy to select 
facts in support of such a hypothesis as one might desire to 
imagine, without having this scaffolding of plausible proofs 
serve for the erection of a solid edifice. It is necessary for 
a long time to collect all the known facts, to groupe, to ar- 
range, to class them, and to remain in doubt in relation to 
the causes, until we see a theory spring spontaneously from 
their arrangement, and until the applications and the conse- 
quences of this theory, lead to results seen and announced 
beforehand. 

A man of distinguished learning has just published in Ger- 
many, a work in two volumes octavo, in which he considers 
magnetism in all its relations. He believes there is in mag- 
netism two different actions. One which depends upon a 
vital principle spread throughout nature, and circulating in 
all bodies; the other, the same principle, modified by man, 
animated by his spirit, and directed by his will. He thinks 
that the first sort of magnetism, which he calls lellurism, or 
siderism, can be employed without the concurrence of the 
human will, and solely by the action of certain mineral or veg- 
etable substances. According to him a baquet regularity 
constructed can, without having been magnetized, act upon 
a patient who comes to place himself there every day for a 
certain time, and produce, in the course of time, most of the 
phenomena obtained by the magnetic processes. I invite 
philosophers to examine this theory. My ignorance of the 
German language does not permit me to judge of it ; but 
the testimony of Kieser is of great weight ; and if, as I sup- 
pose, there is reason to reject his theory, there is none at 



CHAP. X.] TO A KNOWLEDGE OF MAGNETISM. 257 

all to deny the facts upon which he sustains it, and which 
are certainly worthy of attention. 

This is not the place to enter into greater details upon the 
researches to which a person should devote himself, when 
he wishes to study magnetism as a science. He who has 
this object in view, will learn, by reading the works pub- 
lished within a few years, what things ought most particu- 
larly to fix his attention. I merely recommend to him not 
to neglect any thing, to consult the works of the enemies of 
magnetism as well as those of its partizans, to search out in 
the books of historians, philosophers, and physicians, phe- 
nomena analogous to those which the practice of magnetism 
brings to our view, to separate them from all the hypotheses 
to which they have given birth, and not to be hasty in adopt- 
ing general principles. By reading the works published 
upon magnetism in the various schools, from Van Helmont 
to the present time, we shall soon perceive that there are ef- 
fects which have been exhibited every where, always with 
the same characteristics, and phenomena which are pre- 
sented only in certain schools and by certain magnetizers, 
and which one might vainly seek to reproduce himself. 
These phenomena ought not to be rejected ; the most of 
them are real, though often attributed to chimerical causes : 
people have drawn erroneous conclusions from them, and 
you cannot use too much care to distinguish facts in them- 
selves, from the colors with which they have been invested 
by enthusiastic and credulous narrators. 

I have now* pointed out the road for you to follow if you 
would reach the elevation from whence you may behold the 
subject in all its extent, penetrate its depths, see through the 
veil which covers some of its mysteries, free it from what 
does not belong to it, and determine the part it acts in the 



258 OF THE STUDIES APPERTAINING [CHAP. X. 

drama of nature. But upon the route I have traced out 
there are stumbling-blocks of which I should warn you, be- 
cause it is essential to avoid them if you would make a just 
application of the knowledge you have acquired by reading 
and observation 

I have said that one would gain but vague ideas from 
books, if he had not been first convinced by his own expe- 
rience of the power of magnetism. The phenomena of 
somnambulism which it offers are truly wonderful and in- 
structive, and it is impossible to get a conception of them if 
you have not seen some of them with your own eyes. The 
various relations that have been given, contain facts so un- 
like in appearance, that you cannot perceive the tie which 
connects them ; so marvellous, that you are dazzled, and 
know not on what to rest your faith. When you have once 
produced these extraordinary phenomena yourself, you are 
at least convinced of their reality : and you might employ 
the time whicji you would perhaps have uselessly sacrificed 
in satisfying yourself by reading, in examining its success- 
ive stages and its circumstances. Even in this case much 
attention and prudence are requisite, to discriminate in the 
discourses and in the perceptions of somnamblists what ap- 
pertains to the exaltation of the senses, to the nervous sus- 
ceptibility, to the influence of acquired ideas, to the errors 
of the imagination, from the manifestation or the develope- 
ment of a real faculty, absolutely foreign to those which we 
enjoy in our ordinary state. I have many examples of 
somnambulists endowed with an astonishing clairvoyance in 
the exercise of their new faculty applied to things positive 
and within their scope, who would speak at random if asked 
by what means they were enabled to see, and especially 
when requested to speak on subjects which excite their im- 



CHAP. X.] TO A KNOWLEDGE OF MAGNETISM. 259 

agination. I -would compare somnambulism to a micros- 
cope which causes objects at its focus to be distinctly seen, 
though imperceptible to the naked eye ; but on this side of, 
or beyond the focus, the rays cross each other, the hues 
become more brilliant, and the images are wholly distorted. 
The clairvoyance of somnambulists, inconceivable as it is, is 
not less incontestable ; there is no exaggeration in what has 
been related concerning it ; but it is in each individual limit- 
ed to certain objects, and confined to a certain class of ideas ; 
and it is only by comparison between great numbers of facts, 
in which truth has been separated from illusion, that you 
will be enabled to perceive the extent of which it is suscep- 
tible, what is its origin, and what are the conditions which 
favor its developement. If two magnetizers were each to 
form a theory of somnambulism from the facts exhibited by 
their respective somnambulists, it is very probable that 
those theories would not resemble each other. I go further 
and affirm that by reasoning from some phenomena consid- 
ered separately, a person might form not only the strangest 
hypotheses, but might also be induced to deny even the re- 
ality of magnetism. 

I have told you to how many errors you may be exposed 
by an incomplete and limited examination of the phenom- 
ena. I ought now to advert to those which spring from an 
inconsiderate application of the branches of knowledge 
which do not belong to magnetism. 

I am convinced that a person will never make a real 
progress in the science of magnetism when he looks for its 
principles in other sciences. To explain magnetic phe- 
nomena by the laws of electricity or galvanism, by anatom- 
ical considerations of the functions of the brain and nerves, 
would be very much like explaining vegetation by crys- 



260 OF THE STUDIES APPERTAINING [CHAP. X. 

tallography. It is essential for learned men and physicians 
to know that the most profound knowledge of physiology 
will never lead them to the discovery of the theory of mag- 
netism ; yet this knowledge will be useful to secure the ob- 
servers from many errors, by enabling them to distinguish 
what belongs to magnetism, from what is due to other causes, 
by furnishing them the means of verification, by authorizing 
them to reject all consequences essentially contrary to well 
known physical laws. 

Magnetism, considered as an agent, is entirely different 
from the other agents of nature. It has its own laws which 
are not identical with the laws of matter. Considered as a 
science, it has peculiar principles which cannot be known 
except by observation, no idea of which can be caught from 
known sciences. So much I can say with certainty; but I 
permit myself here to add as an opinion, common with me 
and many enlightened men, but which I merely propose as 
an opinion. 

The theory of magnetism is based upon this great princi- 
ple, that there is in nature two sorts of substances, radically 
different in their characteristics and properties, — spirit and 
matter ; that these two substances act, the one upon the 
other, but each one possessing laws peculiar to itself. Among 
the laws that regulate the action of matter upon matter, 
many have been successively brought to light by observa- 
tion, determined by calculation, and verified by experiment : 
such are the laws of motion, of attraction, of electricity, of 
the transmission of light, &c. It is not so with the mind ; 
although the existence of our soul has been demonstrated 
and many of its faculties are known to us, its nature is a 
mystery, its union with organized matter inconceivable, and 
most of the laws by which mind acts upon mind are unknown. 



CHAP. X.] TO A KNOWLEDGE OF MAGNETISM. 261 

Living bodies which are composed of mind and matter,* 
act upon living bodies by the combination of the peculiar 
properties of the two substances. It is perceivable that there 
are in this action two distinct elements, and a mixed ele- 
ment. The knowledge of the laws that govern them, con- 
stitutes the science of magnetism ; and it is only by observ- 
ing, distinguishing, and comparing the various phenomena, 
that we can arrive at the discovery and the elucidation of 
these laws. 

Hence it follows that those who would establish a theory 
of magnetism upon the properties of matter, and those who 
search for it wholly in the faculties of the soul, strike equally 
aside of the truth. Magnetism, being an emanation from 
ourselves, directed by volition, partakes equally of the two 
substances which compose our being. 

This is not the place to enlarge upon this idea. The ob- 
ject I proposed to myself being to teach the practice of mag- 
netism, it is rather to restrain than to excite the persons 
who wish to study it profoundly, that I have permitted my- 

* Instead of recognising only two substances m man, it would 
perhaps be more exact to distinguish three ; the soul, the body, and 
an intermediate substance, which is the principle of life. This was 
the opinion of the ancients, who designated the last as the spirit, or 
the chariot of the soul, (char de Faroe.) This is also the opinion of 
most somnambulists who have reached the highest degree of clair- 
voyance. It will be perceived that this metaphysical question is 
foreign to my subject. I speak of it merely to avoid the imputation 
of not knowing it. That there are, in sentient beings, two sub- 
stances ordinarily different, is an incontestible fact. One is mat- 
ter, the other is not. 

The principle of life is distinct from matter, because it is a prin- 
ciple which acts upon matter and organizes it ; it is distinct from 
the principle of intelligence, because the plants are alive. 



262 OF THE STUDIES APPERTAINING, &C. [CHAP. X. 

self to lay down the route they should follow, and the diffi- 
culties they must vanquish to effect their object. Longer 
details would be useless ; I will, therefore, merely sum up, 
in a brief way, what I have said in this chapter. 

To practice magnetism, you have need only of will, con- 
fidence, and charity ; and all the books which have been 
written, since men have been treating it as a discovery, 
would add nothing essential to the principles proclaimed by 
M. de Puysegur, namely : An active will to do good ; a firm 
belief in our power ; and an entire confidence in employing 
it. To examine into the cause and the similarity of the 
phenomena, you must have first acquired, by your own 
experience, an entire conviction of the power of the agent. 
Next you must have gained a general acquaintance with 
the natural laws ; then of the organization of man and of 
the various conditions in which he is found ; and finally you 
must rise to another class of ideas in order to become ac- 
quainted with the influence of mind upon organized matter, 
and to explain how one man acts upon another by his will. 

Let us thank Heaven that the exercise of a faculty so 
useful, so sublime as that of magnetism, demands only sin- 
gleness of faith, purity of intention, and the developement 
of a natural sentiment which connects us with the sufferings 
of our fellow-men, and inspires us with the desire and the 
hope of relieving them. What need have we to consult the 
wavering decisions of the mind, when we may act effica- 
ciously by abandoning ourselves to the impulse of the 
heart ? 



APPENDIX. 121 

FROM REV. E. B. HALL. 

Providence, Dec. 1, 1837. 
To Mr. T. C. Hartshorn. 

Dear Sir — You wish me to write you something ahout 
my experience and opinions, on the subject of Animal Mag- 
netism. I have been unwilling to say any thing publicly 
about that of which I know so little ; and I should decline 
now, if my name had not already appeared in several 
journals without my permission, and in support of facts not 
correctly given. It was so in the reference to me which 
the appendix to your first number contained, afterwards 
quoted by Colonel Stone, although there was no exaggera- 
tion. A man's own opinion may be of little importance ; 
but truth is of great importance on all subjects, and espe- 
cially as to matters of observation and fact. I feel willing, 
therefore, and feel it to be due to others, to say in brief what 
I have seen and what I believe. 

I can do this best by giving a view, first, of the principles 
by which, not I alone, but many observers in this city, have 
examined this subject, and then of some of the results, so far 
as they can be called results. There seems to be an im- 
pression abroad, and here also, with many, that those of us 
who have not had sufficient confidence in our own wisdom, 
nor seen sufficient cause in the facts offered, to pronounce 
this whole affair an imposition, or reject it as an absurdity, 
are altogether believers and dupes. How far we are dupes, 
I am not concerned to say. That we are not believers, I 
do say. I believe I may say it of a very large portion of 
the intelligent in this place, though I am not authorized to 
speak for others. What is exactly intended, in saying that 
we are not believers, will appear from what follows. It 
may not be useless, to this or any cause, to speak of prin- 
ciples of evidence; the kind of inquiry and test to which all 
matters of this kind should be subjected, and the distinction 
between inquiring and believing. Candor and credulity 
are too often confounded. The first is one of the noblest of 
traits, most rare and most useful — the last is one of the most 
common and most hurtful. Let me recommend, on this 

L 



122 



APPENDIX, 



subject, the perusal of some pieces ascribed to Judge Wil- 
liams, of Taunton, published first in a paper there, and 
afterward appended to a pamphlet by Charles Poyen, as 
written by "a member of the Massachusetts Bench.*" 

The reality of that which is called animal magnetism, is 
purely a question of fact. As such I view it, as such alone 
do I attach any importance to that which is said or done 
about it. Whether it be new or old, whether it agree with 
preconceived opinions or oppose them all, whether the wise 
men in France of the last century, or those of the present, 
believe or disbelieve, whether the marvellous powers here 
supposed, if real, would do most good or evil, whether the 
" possessed nuns," the " Salem witches," and the "old wives" 
of all ages and both sexes, have not wrought as great won- 
ders as the modern somnambulists, are all questions of lively 
interest, it is true, and proper inquiry, but utterly impotent, 
if not irrelevant, in settling a question of fact. Then, as to 
fears or hopes in regard to the truth of animal magnetism, 
1 have neither. I have not the least solicitude that it should 
prove either true or false. I know it is either true or false 
whether proved so or not, whether I believe or reject, or 
any man, or all* men. If it be false, it will do no great 
harm. If true, it will do good ; for all truth is good, and 
does good. Its interference with any other truth, is an im- 
possibility. It is not in the power of animal magnetism, or 
any thing else, known or unknown, to destroy one particle 
of truth in religion, or nature, or man. Truths are never 
destroyed. They are not of man — he can neither create 
nor annihilate the smallest of them . They are of God, and 
they are imperishable. There is but one question and one 
investigation, in this or any subject, that should awaken 
great anxiety or be deemed essential ; what is truth ? 

Now, in seeking the truth, in regard to animal magnet- 
ism, there seems to me to have been too much credulity, a 
too easy faith, with many. The public at large are incre- 
dulous, and they ought to be. Some of them, to be sure, 
are very weakly incredulous, from self-conceit, or obstina- 
cy, or timidity, or blank ignorance. But many are wisely 
incredulous. A healthy mind will never, as it cannot, be- 



APPENDIX. 123 

lieve that which is wholly strange, intrinsically improbable, 
and not yet supported by evidence adapted to its nature or 
proportioned to its magnitude. And much of the evidence 
offered in this case and relied on, is neither of the kind or 
degree that the case demands. I have seen many trials, 
where the truth of every thing was almost taken for grant- 
ed ; and the men and women merely looked on with open 
mouths. Supposing the " subject" was of course asleep, 
and insensible to all sounds and sights, they have openly 
said and done every thing, and then wondered that she knew 
it! This is singular folly. It is child's play. The true 
principle in testing such supposed wonders, is to take noth- 
ing for granted ; no, nothing. I go to the examinations 
without assuming a single fact in the case, but rather dis- 
trusting every thing until it is proved. The whole matter 
is improbable ; i. e. is opposed by all we have ever seen 
and all we know. I have a right, therefore, to institute the 
most rigid and suspicious scrutiny on every point. I will 
not believe, because the operator is an honest man, and 
the subject pure and true. That I do not dispute, and it is 
to be taken into the account. But it does not of itself prove 
much in a case like this. The best men in the world may 
be deceived, and so may the wisest. Nay, such is human 
nature, that in certain circumstances, the best and wisest 
may deceive others, however unintentionally. I will not 
believe even my own senses, in matters so unaccountable, 
until I have had frequent opportunities of examining. I hold 
that any thing which is possible, is more probable, than that 
a person should see without eyes, and travel without mov- 
ing. I demand, therefore, for such facts, such evidence as 
it is not possible to evade or resist. So long as there can 
be any evasion or other explanation, my own mind will not 
receive the appearances as facts, whether others receive 
them or not, whether I wish to receive them or not. 

I distrust all appearances that may be feigned, or in which 
imagination may be the sole agent ; and the power of im- 
agination is almost indefinite. I distrust all answers given 
to leading questions. A very great portion of the questions 
which I have heard put to supposed somnambulists, have 



124 APPENDIX. 

been suggestive. I distrust all information given, when that 
information could have been obtained, either from hints care- 
lessly dropped in the room, or from personal intercourse and 
previous knowledge of objects and places. To make out a 
case of actual clairvoyance, or of mental locomotion, there 
must be not only no probability, but no possibility, of any of 
the above helps or explanations. Nor can I conceive of but 
one kind of proof of this particular power, so inconceivable 
and inexplicable. That proof is the consciousness of hold- 
ing in one's mind a fact unknown to all others, proposing 
the inquiry ourselves in the most guarded manner, without 
any suggestion, or hint, or help of any kind, and then hear, 
ing a true and unequivocal answer. It is little to hear others 
ask questions, when you know not what communication 
there may have been previously. It is insufficient to be 
told even that letters were read, through bandages and en- 
velopes many, if you know nothing of the actors, even if 
you believe their assertions. For letters have been read, 
by peculiar processes, without being opened ; and letters 
have beea opened and returned so well sealed, that the 
writer himself could not detect any appearance of change. 
So that while! disclaim all suspicion of foul play in the 
cases of this kind occurring here, I insist that they are not 
positive proof of the power of seeing through opaque sub- 
stances, except where the letter is not for a moment lost 
sight of by thn writer or operator. If it is not lost sight of, 
but openly read and its contents correctly told, then is this 
also evidence of the highest kind ; supposing, as before, that 
the writer is sure no one but himself know 7 s what the letter 
contains. 

These things are said, not for their peculiar value, but in 
explanation of the kind of feeling and principles of evidence 
which many in this place have brought to this subject. 
They show, that, so far at least, there has been no very 
great credulity or liability to be deceived. And I believe 
I may add — to speak now more definitely of the results — 
that whether deceived or not, some of us have not been sat- 
isfied. I know of few intelligent observers of animal mag- 
netism in Providence, who look upon the subject as settled, 



APPENDIX. 125 

or who wish to he considered as any other than interested 
and candid inquirers. If there are those who know not the 
difference between inquirers and believers, or who think 
that the only wise ones are the scoffers, we must be excused 
from going into any argument with them or about them. 
It is violating all probability and all common sense, to sup- 
pose that hundreds of men and women, of every profession 
and station, of unimpeachable veracity, and at least respect- 
able information, without any concert, compensation, or as- 
signable motive, should engage in the same childish at- 
tempts at imposition, produce the same strange results, and 
in different places become operators or subjects on a large 
scale, for no earthly end but the pleasure of being duped! 
Then to crown the wisdom of such a supposition, it is only 
necessary to take a single case ; for instance, that of a 
young woman of good sense and character, feigning total 
blindness for a year or two before she hears of animal mag- 
netism in order to be prepared for it, subjecting herself to 
all manner of privations, denying herself the agreeable priv- 
ilege of seeing, working, eating, walking, or doing any thing 
with comfort, filling repeatedly, in this pretended blindness, 
so as to receive Serious injury and remain for weeks in se- 
vere pain and dangerous illness; then all at once contriv- 
ing, her eyes still closed and covered, to walk about easily 
and to see correcHy ; not for her own comfort or gain, but 
only for the public entertainment or public suspicion ; her 
family, physicians, and friends at home, all the while assert- 
ing her actual blindness, and all with whom she lives being 
unable to detect in her a single appearance of insincerity or 
even power of management ; yet all an imposition! Be- 
lieve it, who will. Find its parallel or explanation, if pos- 
sible, in any case of witchcraft or delusion, or rather, im- 
position ; for it is important to distinguish. Delusion there 
may he, of sora ; kind, in this very case, and every other; 
but imposition there is not, if any evidence can be trusted, 
or any f ict proved by testimony or observation. 

This is the first result to which I am brought, viz., that 
there is no inte tional deception in this matter. I do not 
say, that none who have ever engaged in animal magnetism 

L* 



126 APPENDIX. 

have been deceivers, or that there has been no wilful de- 
ception in a single instance here. I mean simply that as a 
general, if not a universal fact, the circumstances of the 
case forbid a suspicion of fraud. Self-delusion there may 
be. But an attempt to delude others, any kind of collu- 
sion or imposition, artifice, management, humbug, there is 
no reason to suspect. Those only who exhibit themselves 
for money, give room for any such suspicion ; and they 
may not have been guilty. In the most remarkable cases 
we have had, in almost every case that I have seen or 
heard, there has been an utter absence of all ground for 
suspicion of motives. Nor have I known of more than one 
observer who has imputed bad motives ; and he has given 
more evidence, in his book, of having practised, than of hav- 
ing detected, fraud. 

A second conclusion to which I have come, in common 
with most inquirers, is in favor of the reality of the mag- 
netic sleep. This follows indeed from a belief in the hon- 
esty of those concerned. But it deserves notice as a con- 
viction almost universal now, in the minds of those who 
have given any attention to the subject. There is no rea- 
son for the least doubt, that a peculiar sleep is produced by 
certain manipulations, differing widely from common sleep, 
accompanied often by a suspension of sensibility, and some- 
times by a remarkable activity of mind and power of com- 
munication. So far as this constitutes animal magnetism, 
I doubt if there are many informed minds, in this or any 
city, or any country, who doubt its reality. 

Of all beyond this, there are many who doubt, and there 
is reason for great diffidence and caution. In all that per- 
tains to the action of one mind upon another without words 
or signs, i. e. the power of simple volition — and all that is 
meant by clairvoyance, especially the faculty of inspecting 
human bodies, and visiting in spirit distant places, I have 
no opinions which can be called conclusions, or absolute 
convictions. Much of the evidence adduced in support of 
these wonderful faculties, is to me wholly insufficient. I do 
not mean that it is suspicious or unimportant, but insufficient 
to produce conviction. I have seen evidence at times which 



APPENDIX. 127 

in itself was irresistible ; facts which I defy any man to ac- 
count for, on any known principles. But the powers them- 
selves which these facts tend to prove, are so amazing, so 
utterly incomprehensible and tremendous, that my mind 
demands more evidence, repeated in every variety of cir- 
cumstance, and tested by all orders of men, before it will or 
can fully believe. Then, too, there are so many failures 
made by every somnambulist, so many inequalities, incon- 
sistencies, and perplexities, that it becomes the part of wis- 
dom, if not of necessity, to suspend judgment, and wait for 
greater revelations. Inequalities, it is true, and failures, are 
no proof of the absence of the power. They belong to all 
states of mind, and occur often even in the natural sciences. 
They weigh something in favor of the honesty of the par- 
ties. And at all events, until we know what the power is, 
we have no right to prescribe laws or conditions, to say 
that it must always do this or never do that. We ought 
only to examine the more closely and widely on this ac- 
count, and draw inferences and pronounce judgments with 
extreme caution. 

But there are the facts, you say — what will you do with 
them ? I can only say, I know not what to do with them. 
Facts they are, so far as I can discover. I have witnessed 
them, I have tried them severely, I have been compelled 
to admit them in some cases. The evidence has sometimes, 
in some few instances of my own observing, been as high 
and complete, as I can conceive. But the cases have not 
been sufficiently numerous and varied, the evidence not 
sufficiently tested, to sustain belief in such monstrous ca- 
pacities. I will believe any thing, or more properly, I 
must believe any and every thing that is proved — whether 
I understand its nature or not, whether I can reconcile it 
or not with my preconceived notions. Its relations, its pur- 
pose, its uses and consequences, I leave with Him who 
gives all powers and ordains all truth. But it must be 
proved ; and the proof must be proportioned to the nature 
and magnitude of the thing to be established. 

You may wish me to refer to some facts. It cannot be 
necessary, and I have already been too long. In the par- 



128 APPENDIX. 

ticular case with which my name has been connected, I had 
Miss B. wholly under my own control. I questioned her a- 
bout places and objects which she had never seen, and some 
of which, as they then existed, no creature but myself could 
have known. I proposed the questions in the most guarded 
manner. I had never been satisfied before, and I did hot 
expect to be then. But if not satisfied, I was confounded. 
She described distant objects, whose position in some cases 
I had just changed, whose existence in other cases I did 
not then know or believe, so truly, so wonderfully, that I 
could only marvel. At other times, she has done the same 
in regard to my own house, and houses in other towns and 
states. Then as to her power of seeing, (not taking her 
blindness for granted, though unquestionable,) 1 have tried 
it in various ways, and am convinced that she sees either 
by some other organ than the eye, or with such rays of 
light only as can penetrate all substances ; if there are any 
such. I have seen a sealed letter, containing a passage 
enclosed in lead, which letter she held at the side of her 
head not more than a moment, all in sight, then gave it 
back to the writer, and afterward wrote what she had read 
in it — the letter was opened in my presence, and the two 
writings agreed in every word, there being two differences 
in spelling only. Of her power, or that of any somnambulist, 
to examine bodies and describe diseases in others, I have 
seen no satisfactory proof. But one of our first physicians, 
who has published nothing on the subject, has recently told 
me of a case of his own, which is enough to silence, if not 
convince most skeptics. 

I regard the whole subject as a matter of curious study. 
It has no claim to be called a science, for that denotes 
something known and settled. It is hardly a subject for 
lectures or public discourses, much less for exhibition and 
profit. It should be subjected to private and quiet examina- 
tions, scientific inquiry, patient, rigid, unsparing experiment, 
yet candid and kind. If it will not bear this trial, let it fall. 
If it will, let us learn what it is. There is much doing now, 
I am told, privately and encouragingly. Yet it will not 
surprise me, if the whole matter dies away soon, ar:d is not 



APPENDIX. 129 

revived again for years. I am not sanguine about its pro- 
gress or its benefits. If wisely pursued, neither weakly 
trusted, nor weakly scorned, whatever of truth or delusion 
it contains will appear in good time. As yet, I believe lit- 
tie, but hope something, and fear nothing. 

With great regard, 

E. B. HALL. 



FROM THE REV. MR. KENT. 

Roxbury, Nov. 27, 1837. 
Mr. T. C. Hartshorn, 

Dear Sir — I sball give you a simple narrative of what 
passed in my presence, on the evening when Miss Brackett 
was put into the magnetic sleep and conducted to my place 
of residence in Roxbury, as the facts appeared to me, leav- 
ing you to make such a use of it as you may think proper, 
and others to draw whatever inferences from it they please. 
If charged with too great minuteness, I will only say, that 
my desire and purpose is to state the whole truth, without 
coloring or reservation. 

Intending to visit the Mansfield mines in my August va- 
cation, I was induced, by friends in Boston, who had re- 
cently witnessed the powers of different somnambulists, to 
go on to Providence and seek an opportunity to see them 
myself. One of these friends kindly obtained for me the 
letter of introduction presented to you by me from your 
brother in Boston, in which he simply mentioned my being 
u a brother teacher" and one anxious to see the effects of 
animal magnetism, from other motives than those of mere cu- 
riosity. Not a syllable was said, and I am sure no one could 
have conjectured, about the objects I should wish to have 
described, and which were described by Miss Brackett with 
a promptness, accuracy, and particularity, which amazed 
me. You must remember, also, that in the course of my 
conversation with you, I had avowed myself, as I really 
was, before trial, a skeptic on the whole subject, to be re- 
claimed only by evidence which should seem to me irresist- 



130 APPENDIX, 

ible ; and a determination to watch with the closest scrutiny 
every circumstance, look, and movement that might pass 
before me ; and I distinctly remember, that this was, also, 
your evidently sincere and repeatedly expressed desire. 

Meeting accidentally with my friend, Mr. Joseph Harring- 
ton, Jr., of this place, who assured me of his strong desire 
to witness an exhibition of somnambulic clairvoyance, if it 
existed, I requested, in your presence, the privilege of 
having him accompany me, which Mr. Metcalf, at whose 
house Miss B. was then residing, very kindly and politely 
granted. After calling, with Mr. Harrington, on Dr. Ca- 
pron, the magnetizer, stating the motive which led me to 
wait on him and solicit the favor of seeing his patient in the 
magnetic sleep, and having the hour fixed upon, we went 
to Mr, Metcalf 's at half past seven, P. M., and were intro- 
duced to Miss Brackett. Dr. Capron soon came in with 
several other gentlemen and ladies, who were successively 
introduced ; and in a few minutes he proposed to commence 
the process of magnetizing, after I had placed a rocking- 
chair where I pleased, and Miss B. had been led to it in the 
perfect attitudes of blindness, by Miss Metcalf. 

In order to prevent unfairness or collusion between the 
parties, I requested that lamps might be placed near, and 
directly before Miss B., and took my seat at her side. Dr. 
Capron readily complied with my request ; but said, that as 
her eyes were still, as they had been for several days, in- 
flamed, it would be necessary to put a bandage, or cotton be- 
fore them, to prevent the effects of too strong a light. I pro- 
posed the latter ; it was brought, and in our presence, rolled 
into balls, and inserted between the spectacles she wore and 
her eyes, in such a manner, that it would have been impossible 
for her, even with the best eyes, to see a ray of light. This 
cotton was watched, and it remained in its place through 
the whole time. Of the process of magnetizing I will only 
mention one or two phenomena which I have not seen stated. 
After Miss Brackett was apparently in a profound sleep, 
Dr. Capron requested us to observe the effect of pointing 
his fingers towards, but without touching by several inches, 
her hand. At first, her arm and hand were gently agitated. 



APPENDIX. 131 

the agitation increasing as his fingers approached, until her 
hand was drawn or attracted with violence up to the mag- 
netizer's. The experiment was repeatedly tried on the right 
and left hands, according to our direction, in every instance 
successfully, and with the same result, without a word spoken, 
or sign given, which could have indicated which hand would 
be approached. We were then requested to try the same 
experiment ourselves, and did so without the least effect. 

On being roused by Dr. Capron, Miss Brackett instantly 
started from her chair, and to our astonishment, passed twice 
round the room, with a rapid and sure step, avoiding every 
individual and article of furniture, and saying that she "could 
not and would not stay where there were so many people." 
She then hurried through the parlor to the door of the en- 
try, seized its handle instantly and unerringly ; and, turn- 
ing her face towards us, opened it and gained the outer step, 
where Dr. Capron took her arm, and persuading her to re- 
turn, seated her in the chair she had left ; when she was 
again introduced to all the strangers present. The first in- 
troduction having been made while she was in her natural 
state, the last, while in the magnetic state. 

Dr. Capron then requested a tumbler of water to be 
brought ; and after drinking about half of it himself, he 
roused Miss B., who had apparently sunk into a profound 
and quiet sleep, as she afterwards did repeatedly, and re- 
quested her to drink some of it. She did so, when Mr. 
Harrington drew to a corner of the room, and, after writing 
on a slip of paper, beckoned me to him and simply held the 
paper before me, on which was written " Will the contents 
of the tumbler to be castor oil," or words to that effect. He 
then beckoned to Dr. Capron, who went to him, and reading 
the sentence, indicated by a nod that he would cheerfully do 
it, and retaking his seat, which was placed between two 
and three feet before Miss Brackett, he said, without moving 
a limb, or uttering a syllable more, 

" Come, Lurena, drink a little of this, and you will feel 
better, I think." Alluding, as I supposed, to a severe head-, 
ache, of which she had spoken to us in the course of our 
conversation, before the Doctor's entrance. 



132 APPENDIX. 

She raised the tumbler to her lips, and suddenly replaced 
it in her lap, with evident nausea and aversion. 

Dr. C. " Come, drink a little of it. It is very good." 

Miss B. " Good !" moving her lips, " you know it is not 
good !" 

Dr. C. « Why ?" 

Miss B. " Why ? It makes me sick." 

Dr. C. "O, no; drink one mouthful." 

She did so; and had she witnessed the ceremony of taking 
pure castor a thousand times, the apparent effect on her 
could not have been more true to nature. 

Mr. Harrington again summoned the Doctor, and whis. 
pered too low to be heard by any other person in the room. 
" Will, now, that it is snuff." He returned, and repeated 
only words resembling those used in the first experiment. 
On looking into the tumbler, she seemed to smile ironically, 
and said, 

"Drink this! drink this! you know I cannot ;" with an 
expression of countenance which any one, seeing snuff to 
be the contents of a tumbler about to be drank off, must 
have assumed. 

I then requested Dr. C. in the same manner, to "will it 
to be pleasant lemonade" After long persuasion, without a 
word or gesture, however, which could have indicated the 
nature of my request, on Dr. C.'s part, she put the tumbler 
cautiously to her lips, and tasting, drank the whole of the 
water that remained. 

Dr. C. " Well, Lurena, how do you like that?" 
Miss B. " Why, it 's very good, but a little too sour" 
Some one of the strangers present now requested in a 
whisper that he would " will the tumbler to be filled with an 
ice cream." I sat at Miss B.'s elbow, and watched both 
her countenance, and Dr. C.'s words and motions. Collu- 
sion, or any thing like a secret understanding between them 
in what followed, / believe to have been impossible. 

Dr. C. "Come, Lurena, drink what I have got for you 
now. You will find it very good." 

Rousing, she looked into the empty tumbler, and contin- 
ued silent. On further inquiry, she said, 



APPENDIX. 183 

"You know I cannot drink it." 
Dr. C. "Why?" 

Miss B. "I've been waiting for a spoon this half hour" 
A spoon was then brought and given her. She raised 
the tumbler, and imitating to perfection the manner of a lady 
taking an ice cream in a fashionable and elegant circle, she 
finished it, and replaced the tumbler in her lap, as one wait- 
ing for a servant to take it. 

Dr. C. " Well, is not that good ?" 

Miss B. " Yes, it 's very good, but a little too highly 
flavored for me." 

I should have mentioned that while eating it, she put her 
hand to her face in apparent pain. 

Dr. C. " What is the matter with your face?" 

Miss B. " Why, it makes my teeth ache, it 's so cold." 

I then requested Dr. Capron to take the tumbler from 
her, and, in a whisper scarcely audible to him, to " mil a 
black kitten to be in her lap." He assented, and, taking his 
seat before her, as I did mine at her side, he said, without 
previously uttering a syllable even in whisper to any one, 
or making the least motion, " Lurena, come, wake up and 
see what you have in your lap." She seemed gradually to 
wake. " What have you in your lap?" Looking down, 
she instantly began to draw her arms up with aversion at 
the object seen, but remained silent. 

Dr. C. " What is the matter ? Is it not pretty ?" 

Drawing her arms still further up, she said, evidently of. 
fended, " Pretty ? no. What have you put that in my lap 
for? I shant take it ! I wont !" 

Dr. C. "O, yes, take it." 

Miss B. " I wont." 

Dr. C. "Well, if you do not like it, give it to me." 
Lifting it precisely as one would by the nape of the neck, 
and tossing it, she said, "There, take the dirty black thing!" 

The preceding experiments were tried, in consequence of 
our having heard that similar ones had been made without 
failure in any instance ; and I am as certain as I am of 
being able to see or hear any thing directly before me, that 
no direction, either by a whisper, pause, or gesture, was 

M 



134 APPENDIX. 

given by the magnetizer to the magnetized ; and I know 
that the directions I gave Dr. C. could not have been an- 
ticipated by him or any one else. 

I now requested Dr. Capron to take her to Roxbury, and 
to " stop in front of the Universalist meeting-house at the 
bottom of the hill," as the nearest prominent object to my 
own house. 

Dr. C. "Well, Lurena, Mr. Kent wishes us to go to 
Roxbury and visit his house. Will you go ?" 

Miss B. " Yes, I should like to go very well." 

Dr. C. " In what way shall we go ?" 

Miss B. " We will go through the air, if you please, 
and I should like to go high." 

Dr. C, at some one's suggestion. " Why do you wish to 
go high?" 

Miss B. " Why, to avoid the steeples and trees that will 
be in our way." 

The appearance manifested on her passage from place 
to place, has been correctly described by others. In about 
one and a half minutes, Dr. C. said, 

"Well, Lurena, have we got there?" 

Miss B. "Yes, we have;" with an appearance of ex- 
haustion. 

At this moment Dr. Capron proposed to put me in com- 
munication with her, as he had engagements to attend to at 
the hour arrived. I requested, however, that I might first 
see you take the guidance of her, as I was wholly ignorant 
of the manner of it. Dr. C. mentioned that this might be 
as well, and introduced you. 

Mr. H. " Miss Brackett, how do you do ? I am very 
happy to meet you in Roxbury." 

Miss B. " Why, Mr. Hartshorn, how came you to be 
here ?" 

Mr. H. "I am here on a visit." 

You were not in the room when all present were led up 
and mentioned or introduced, after she was magnetized. 
Mr. Harrington now requested you to ask her what she saw. 

Mr. H. " Well, Miss Brackett, what building have we 
here?" 



APPENDIX. 135 

Miss B, " Why do you ask that question ? You can 
see for yourself, as well as I can." 

Mr. H. " Yes, but I should like to know how we agree." 

Miss B. " Why, it is a large meeting-house." 

Mr. H. " Well, look round ; look up ; what o'clock 
fa it ?" 

Miss B., after apparent examination. "It has no clock.'' 
This is correct. 

Mr. H. " What do you see ? Are there any lights ?" 

Miss B. "Yes, there are ; and what strange people they 
are in Roxbury, to have lights on posts in the day time ? If 
I could only reach higher, I would take them down, it looks 
so silly." 

Mr. Harrington now directed you to ask what she saw 
before the meeting-house. 

Miss B. " I see a building." 

Mr. H. " What sort of a building is it ?" 

Miss B. " It is a brick one." Correct. 

Mr. H., at Mr. Harrington's suggestion. "Now, Miss 
BfRckett, we will go to this building. Are we there?" 

Miss B. " Yes, we are." 

Mr. H. " Well, should you like to go in, and see what 
there may be there ?" 

Miss B. " I should," 

Mr. H., after a moment's pause ; "What do you see?" 

Miss B. " O, how beautiful these are ! How good they 
taste !" She then appeared to eat some kind of fruit ; but 
suddenly stopping, said, " O, I forgot ; I have no money, 
sir ; I beg your pardon ; and apparently laid down what 
she held in her hand. 

Mr. H. " What are you eating, Miss Brackett ? Do 
you wish for money? Here it is." 

Miss B., smiling with evident pleasure ; " I thank you ;" 
and seeming to take up the fruit again and eat it, said, " How 
pleasant it is. It is so good I think I '11 take another." She 
did so. 

Mr. H., by direction. " What sort of fruit is it ?" 

Miss B. " I do n't hardly know. They are apples or 
pears. They taste very good." 



136 APPENDIX. 

Mr. H. " Well, Miss Brackett, look round and see what 
else you may like. It will refresh you to take something 
after your rapid journey." In a few moments, putting her 
left hand under the chin, she seemed like one attempting to 
crack a hard-shelled nut with the teeth. 

Mr. H. " What have you there ?" 

Miss B. " Why, it 's a Castalia nut, and so hard that I 
can't crack it ;" trying with still greater effort. 

Mr.' H. "Castalia nut? You mean, do you not, the 
Castana nut ? 

Miss B. "Yes; I don't know what you call it; but / 
call it a Castalia nut." 

Mr. H. " Well, shall we go now ?" 

Miss B. "If you please. But, oh, I havn't paid the 
gentleman. There, sir," laying as it were money upon a 
counter. 

The building where this imaginary scene passed is a 
brick one, occupied at present as a West-India goods store. 
The day after my return from Providence, I called at this 
store and inquired first, whether the store-keeper had any 
fruit for sale on Wednesday evening. He replied in the 
affirmative, and directed me to a basket of apples which he 
said had been on the counter three or four days. On tast- 
ing one, I certainly should not have doubted the correctness 
of Miss B.'s taste, had she been present when she seemed 
to enjoy them so much in imagination. " Have you any 
Castana nuts?" "You will find them in the window next 
to the door." They were there in one of the three divisions 
of a box, containing different kinds of nuts. 

At the door of the store you will remember having put 
me in communication with her. 

Mr. H. " Miss Brackett, here is our mutual friend, Mr. 
Kent, who was introduced to you in Providence." 

" Good evening, Miss Brackett, I am very glad to see you 
in Roxbury," taking her hand. 

Miss B. " Why, Mr. Kent, how did you get here so 
soon ?" with apparent surprise and emphasis. 
" I followed you in the rail -road cars." 



APPENDIX. 137 

Miss B. " In the cars ! That is impossible ! You could 
not travel so fast in the cars as I did through the air." 

" Well, suppose, then, that I came in the stage." 

Miss B. " In the stage ! You have just said you came 
in the cars ! Your stones do not seem to hang together" — 
smiling. 

" I confess, Miss Brackett, that I cannot tell you how I 
came — but that is of no consequence ; it is certain I am 
here, and wish you to go with me to my house, a short dis- 
tance from this. Will you attend me?" 

Miss B. "Yes, sir, I will." 

After a time sufficient to conduct her only a few steps, 
and giving two or three directions, I said, " Stop, we must 
go back and start again. I believe I am wrong." She 
laughed audibly. " What are you laughing at, Miss 
Brackett ?" 

Miss B. " Why, I am laughing at the fact that you, a gen- 
tleman, should invite me to attend you to your house, when 
you donH know the way there yourself 7" I cheerfully con- 
fess, sir, that my feelings at this moment, in consequence of 
what I had witnessed and heard after her arrival in Rox- 
bury, very much resembled those of an oratorical tyro, who 
has lost the place in his manuscript, and stands before an 
audience evidently waiting for words, which it is not in his 
power to command, utterly at fault ! I did not feel certain 
that I should select such landmarks and use such terms as 
would be sure to guide such a companion to the house, and 
said, " I am very free to acknowledge, Miss Brackett, that 
you may have a better guide, under my direction, and here 
is oir friend, Mr. Hartshorn, who will take vou in charge." 

Mr. H. u Will you go with me to Mr. Kent's ?" 

Miss B., with evident pleasantry. " I will ; for he does 
not seem to know the way there, himself!" 

Mr. FT., by direction. " We are now at the first corner 
on the right, Miss Brackett. What do you see?" 

Miss B. " See ? A large brick house." 

Mr. H. "Is it a tavern?" 

Miss B. " It may be. I think it is." 



188 APPENDIX. 

Mr. H. " We will go forward a little. What do you 
see ?" 

Miss B. After a pause. " I shall not tell you, for you 
can see it yourself." 

Mr. H. "I wish to see whether we agree in opinion." 

Miss B. " It 's a very large barn." The stable by which 
she must pass measures ninety feet by thirty-two. 

Mr. H. " Is there any thing on the top of it ? Look up." 

Miss B. After looking up. " Why, what curious people 
there are here. They keep lamps on posts burning in the 
day time, and put creatures on their barns." There is on 
this livery stable an unusually large gilded vane, in the 
form of a horse. 

Mr. H. " We will now go forward, cross a street, and 
on the left hand corner is Mr. Kent's house." After a short 
pause, " Are we there ?" 

Miss B. "Yes." 

Mr. H. " What is there before his house ?" 

Miss B. " I shant tell you, for you know." 

Mr. H. " O yes, tell me. Is there any yard here?" 
As you had never seen my house, your question was put at 
ran lorn. 

Miss B. "Yard? Yes." 

Mr. H. " What sort of one is it? 

Miss B. " Why do you ask such questions ? 

Mr. H. " Is it a gravelled one ?" 

Miss B. " No. It is a green one ; you know it is." 
She seemed here, as in several other instances, to feel that 
she was trifled with. Her answer was correct. 

Mr. H. " Well, we will go in and enter the room on the 
left. Are we there?" 

Miss B. " Yes. What a handsome carpet this is." 

Mr. H., by direction. " What kind of a carpet is it ? 
Is it Brussels, Kidderminster, or what is it ?" 

Miss B. "I hardly know what to call it. It's a very 
handsome one, but it is not woollen.' 9 The carpet is a paint- 
ed canvass one which had been purchased at the factory 
and laid down a short time before. 



APPENDIX. 139 

I was here again put in communication with her. " Well 
Miss Brackett, you see me now at home, and I with you 
to look round this room and tell me what you think of the 
different objects here." 

Miss B., apparently looking at the wall. " Oh, what a 
beautiful picture this is ! it would be perfect if the hair of 
the lady was pushed a little farther back. It comes too 
low over the forehead." Speaking in a whisper to herself, 
" Oh, what hair, it spoils it. I wish I could push it back ;" 
motioning with her fingers, as if attempting to do so. " How 
beautiful that arm is !" The picture described is a Chinese 
copy of a lady holding a kitten in her arms, and hangs near- 
est the door. Although it has been there three years, I was 
unconscious of any striking defect in the hair, but found on 
my return that no artist with perfect eyes, and the most dis- 
criminating taste, could have made more just criticism upon 
it than she did. Her remark upon the arm was precisely 
the same in words, that I have repeatedly heard made br- 
others. 

" We will now, Miss Brackett, pass on, if you please. 
What do you see here ?" 

Miss B. " See ! what you see, sir, a table." 

" Is there any thing over it ?" 

Miss B. " Oh, that lady is perfect. How beautiful she 
is," with earnest emphasis. The painting over the table 
is a Chinese copy, also, of a full length portrait of " the 
Maid of Athens," and was correctly described. 

II Is there any thing on this table ?" 

Miss B. " Yes ; and they are the handsomest of the kind 

I ever saw. How very beautiful these are ! I must look 

into one of them." 

" Well, Miss Brackett, open and look into it." 

Miss B., seeming to make an unsuccessful attempt. "I 

can 't; it is locked." 

At your suggestion. " You can look through the top of it." 
Miss B. " No ; I want the key. I shall not look through 

the cover of such a one as this is." 

" Well, here is the key ;" putting the ends of my fingers 

to hers. 



140 APPENDIX. 

Miss B., trying it, and handing it back again. "It does 
not fit." 

" Oh, I have given you the wrong one. This is the key." 

Miss B., holding it up, and looking at it with a smile. 
M What a pretty, cunning little key this is. I never saw one 
of such a color." Inserting and carefully turning it, she 
opened the box, and seemed to admire the inside. There 
were on the table two Chinese work-boxes, having the usual 
pieces within, and what I believe is not common, a very 
beautiful cluster of flowers painted on white satin, in the 
cover of each, with a third, resembling them in external ap- 
pearance. The key was described with amusing and sin- 
gular accuracy ; and I found on my return, that Mrs. K. 
had locked the outside work-box, in compliance with our 
agreement before I left home, that she should make what 
striking alterations, unknown to me and every one else, in 
my room, she pleased. I, in a few moments, asked what 
else she saw on the table, having in my own mind a large 
book of paintings on rice paper, which I remembered leaving 
on this table before the work-boxes, of whose merits I was cu- 
rious to learn her opinion. She smiled, but would make no 
reply. 

" I wish you now to look at the fire-place. Is there any 
thing before it?" 

Miss B. "Yes. Oh, what a singular and splendid urn 
that is. I never saw one so large and of such a color." 

" What is its color ?" 

Miss B. " I do n't know what color to call it," speak- 
ing in an undertone, " It looks white — red." The urn 
standing there, was a large one of polished variegated por- 
phyry. 

" Now, Miss Brackett, look over the mantel-piece; look 
high. Is there any thing there ?" 

Miss B., speaking with evident emotion and veneration. 
" Oh, how beautiful — beautiful." And as she spoke, she 
bent forward, folded her arms on her breast, and put herself 
exactly in the attitude of our Saviour, as he is painted in a 
miniature which represents him at the moment when he said, 
"Thy will be done." This painting is on ivory, three 



APPENDIX. 141 

inches square in the clear, set in a deep and broad gilt 
frame, and hangs about one and a half feet over the mantel- 
piece* It was received from Canton and placed there but 
a few days before, and I know that no individual in Amer- 
ica, except my family, had then seen it, I continued : 

"What do you see, Miss Brackett ?" 

Miss B., raising her eyes. " What a beautiful picture 
that is !" 

" Is it a large one ?" 

Miss B. " No ; it 's a very small one. It 's tgo small." 

" Is it as small as the one opposite ?" 

Miss B. M Yes ; why, you know it is as small again." 
Correct. 

" Well, look down ; is there any thing under it?" 

Miss B. "You know there is." 

" What is it ?" 

Miss B., promptly. " It 9 s an image of Christ" There 
was standing directly und(;r the picture, a cast iron image 
of our Saviour bearing his cross, in bas relief. 

" What more do you see here ?" 

Miss B. " What large and beautiful vases these are." 

" Vases ! How many are there ?" 

Miss B. " Why, you can see as well as I do. There 
are two." There were four glass shades or vases, cover- 
ing large specimens of Chinese rice paper flowers; two of 
them touching each other at each end of a long and broad 
mantel-piece. 

" We will now, if you please, go into the other room and 
see what may be there." 

Miss B. " Stop a moment, I want to rest me on this 
sofa ; my head aches." A sofa stands between the fire- 
place and door, by which she would naturally pass. 

In a few moments, " Will you go now ?" 
• Miss B. "Yes, I will." 

" And what do you find in this room ?" 

Miss B. " What ? are there pictures here, too ? But I 
do n't like this room so well as the other." 

" You do not ? Look round if you please, and tell me 
what the pictures are." 



142 APPENDIX. 

Miss B. " Why, I don't know what they are. There 
is one that looks like an apostle." There was no such pic- 
ture in the room, although there had been but a few days be- 
fore. " Oh, these are beautiful. Oh, they are beautiful, 
very beautiful !" 

" What are they ?" 

Miss B. " Why, this book of pictures. Don't you see 
them?" 

" Where are they?" 

Miss B; " On the pianoforte. But I must go back into 
the other room. I want to look longer at the pictures 
there." I found on my return that Mrs. K. had removed 
this book from the table in the other room, where I left it, to 
the piano in this room ; and, in sport, placed a coffee-pot in 
its stead. Whether or not this was the object smiled at, but 
not mentioned, Heave others to decide. Returning with my 
charge to the other room, I requested Dr. Capron, who 
had now come in, to receive her from me. He did so, and 
after indulging her in looking at the pictures a short time, 
on which she made the same remarks as before, he said, 

" Well, Lurena, Mr. Kent wishes us, now, to go up stairs. 
Will vou go?" 

MissB. "Yes, I will." 

Dr. C* " We will go up and enter the left hand door." 

" What do you see here ?" 

Miss B. " See ! I see a lady." 

Dr. C. " How is she dressed ?" Her answer was cor- 
rect. 

" How old is she ?" 

Miss B. " Why that is a polite question ! Madam," 
bowing and smiling as she spoke, " the gentleman wishes me 
to ask you how old you are /" 

Dr. C. " How old do you think she is ?" 

Miss B., raising her eyes. "I don't know. I should 
think she is about twenty." 



* These and many of the succeeding questions were put by my 
direction, Dr. C. being unacquainted with my house. 



APPENDIX. 143 

Dr. C. " Are there any other persons in the room ?" 

Miss B. "No." Airs. K. ivas the only person up, in 
the chamber, at the time. There were, however, two children 
asleep in the led. 

Dr. C. " We will now go forward and down stairs, and 
pass through the left hand door." 

" What sort of room is it ?" 

Miss B. " It 's a large kitchen." Correct. In a short 
time she seemed to be sipping something. 

Dr. C. " What have you found, Lurena, any thing to 
eat ?" 

Miss B. " Eat ! no. It 's water, and very good water 
too." There is in the corner of this kitchen a small table, 
on which my cook keeps habitually a water pail, and gen- 
erally a long handled tin dipper in it. On my return I in- 
quired of her if she remembered certainly whether there 
was water left in the pail on the evening mentioned. She 
replied that she was certain of having left it half full, in 
consequence of finding more water in the boiler than she 
expected, on that evening. This pail, however, I found, 
without letting any one know the object of my examination, 
to be left empty when my domestics retired, four nights in 
succession. I now directed Dr. Capron to take her into the 
next apartment, "the pump room, with a lattice front," for- 
getting in my astonishment at what had passed before me, that 
there was an intermediate room ! 

Dr. C. " Well, we will now go into the next room. 
What sort of room is it ?" 

Miss B. " Why, this is a kitchen too, only it is a smaller 
one." Correct. 

Dr. C. " We will go through the next one and take the 
left hand door into another room. Are we there?" 

Miss B. " Yes, but," with evident surprize, "why did 
they tell me Mr. Kent was a minister ? It is nH true. He 's 
a schoolmaster /" Dr. C. looked at me and appeared, at 
least, to believe that his patient was here at fault. You 
will remember having assured me, sir, on the evening when 
we separated before the Franklin House in Providence, 
that you had mentioned me, both to Miss Brackett and Dr. 



144 APPENDIX. 

Capron, only as a minister. On my stating to the latter 
that although I had been a minister, she was correct, he 
said, " A schoolmaster, Lurena ? why do you say he is a 
schoolmaster ?" 

Miss B. " Why you say this is his room, and he is a 
schoolmaster because this is a schoolroom. And I never 
saw such an one. He has pictures here too. And what 
singular desks these are. He has chairs fixed instead of 
seats." It would have been impossible for a person with 
perfect eyes and in broad sunlight to give a more accurate 
description of this room, than she did. I could not at this 
moment repress my impatience to have her conducted to 
the room above, the character and contents of which I was 
sure could be known neither to yourself, to Dr. Capron, to 
Miss Brackett, nor to any one else in Providence, except 
Mr. Harrington, who had been totally silent on the subject, 
from the fact that I had myself scrupulously guarded 
against giving the least hint of them to any one, that less 
than three days had elapsed since my letter of introduction 
to you was written, that I was a perfect stranger to your 
brother in Boston who penned it, and that to entertain a 
moment's suspicion of collusion between him and the gen- 
tleman who obtained it for me, by which any intelligence 
of tlie truth might have been secretly communicated, would 
be a gross and unpardonable insult to unimpeachable in- 
tegrity. 

Dr. C. at length said, " Come, Lurena, we will now go 
out of this room, and up stairs into the room above, which 
Mr. Kent wishes us to see. Will you go ?" 

Miss B. " Stop, I can 't go up yet. I must sit down in 
this chair and rest me ; my head aches." 

Dr. C. " Well, sit down ; we need not be in haste." 
He then made a few motions with the hands before her, af- 
ter which she soon roused and said in reply to his invita- 
tion, "I don't want to go up these stairs." 

Dr. C. "Why?" 

Miss B. " Because they are so steep and twisting." Ap- 
parently making an effort, " They are the hardest stairs I 
ever went up." The stairs leading to the room above, are 



APPENDIX. 145 

in one corner of the school-room, not out of it; are " steep 
and twisting," and have more than once occasioned in others 
the same complaint while ascending them. 

Dr. C. * Well, are you in the room ?" 

Miss B. " Yes. Why, is it possible ? What a singular 
man Mr. Kent is ! He is a minister, and a schoolmaster, 
and keeps a museum. I must see all these things. I could 
stay here four or five days; yes, a month. How many 
things there are." While she appeared to examine objects, 
I requested Dr. C. to question her in relation to what she 
saw. He did so. 

Miss B. " Why, what a curious window that is f I never 
saw one before that went clear across a room ! And only 
look ! He has got it full behind the windows, too. What 
large things. The glass seems to magnify them." My as- 
tonishment was at this moment complete. There is a glass 
window, or partition, across the room, to secure my apparatus, 
and several large articles connected with natural history. 

Dr. C. " What now do you see? Look up." 

Miss A. " Whv, that is very handsome." 

Dr. C. "What is it ?" 

Miss B. " It looks like marble." Alluding, as I supposed, 
to a bust of plaster of Paris, standing on a pedestal against 
the partition. 

Dr. C. " Are there any shells here ?" 

Miss B. " Why do you ask me that question, when you 
know 1 have just put one into your hand ?" There were shells 
within her reach. After she had seemed to examine the dif- 
ferent objects around with the different sensations which 
they were adapted to produce, I requested Dr. C. to take 
her to a friend's house in this place ; but she refused decidedly 
to go, saying, she would leave this room to see no other one 
in Roxbury. She was then charged to remember some of 
the things, with a view to having them described the next 
day, assured that she might return to look at my cabinets, 
when, and stay as long as she pleased. 

Reconducted to Providence in the same manner as she 
came to Roxbury, and re-entering the room at Mr. Met- 
calf 's, she instantly said, " Why, there are two gentlemen 

N 



146 APPENDIX. 

here, to whom I have not been introduced !" It was ac- 
knowledged, and she was introduced to these gentlemen, 
strangers from a distant state, who had entered the room be- 
tween her leaving and returning to Providence. 

In eight or ten days after, the parents of Mr. Harrington 
called upon me and expressed a wish to see my cabinets ; 
saying that they had received a letter from him, (he had not 
yet returned home,) mentioning that Miss Brackett had re- 
turned to them, and spent the night in examination, after 
being put into the magnetic sleep ; that she had described 
to Miss Metcalf the next day certain objects which he men- 
tioned, but which they had decided not to name, until they 
had seen for themselves. We went to the room where they 
found every object Mr. H. had specified in his letter— a 
bust of Milton, a large table in the center of the room, 
several pictures scattered on one side of it which belong to 
a perspective box, and a box covered with paper which 
strikingly resembles what Miss Brackett said it was, " some- 
thing like Mosaic work." I could not account for her re- 
cognition of Milton's bust, seen as it was in a teacher's 
room, or " Museum," where any other than his would be 
likely to have place, until I found on being requested by a 
gentleman to examine it, what I had forgotton, the name 
" Milton" written deeply and legibly on the back of it, which 
touched a board partition. 

I am aware, sir, that there may seem to be indelicacy in 
thus exposing to the public the objects to be found in a pri- 
vate dwelling, and I would, if I could, have avoided it. But 
I promised, at the moment of leaving you, to describe and 
place at your disposal, an account of what I saw and heard. 
It is right to keep that promise ; and in doing this, I have 
felt obliged to give literally the questions asked and answers 
returned. You have, according to my best recollection, the 
whole truth, without reservation or intentional coloring. The 
facts, as they appeared to me, are at your disposal. With 
the inferences to be drawn from them I have nothing here 
to do, and cheerfully leave the subject with those who may 
think it worthy either of their ridicule or serious considera- 



APPENDIX. 147 

tion, calmly and humbly asking for myself, " What shall we 
do with these things ?" 

Yours very respectfully and truly, 

BENJAMIN KENT. 

FROM MR. JOSEPH HARRINGTON, JUN. 

Roxbury, Nov. 29th, 1837. 

Dear Sir — I was present at the above mentioned interview 
of my friend, Mr. Kent, with Miss Brackett ; and with the 
exception of a few unimportant particulars, wherein my 
memory does not distinctly serve me, I bear unhesitating 
witness to the truth of every statement contained in his com- 
munication. Unless our senses were grossly deceived or our 
judgments thoroughly bewildered, we were, on the evening 
referred to, spectators of wonderful and unexplained mental 
phenomena. And most desirous must every lover of truth 
be, that the subject of " Animal Magnetism" should receive 
that attention which it merits, and that its juggles, if it pos- 
sess any, should be exposed, or its astounding revelations 
be corroborated by accumulated testimony, and its mysteri- 
ous nature unravelled. If your humble servant, sir, has 
been duped, hardly less wonderful is the dexterity of the 
impostors than somnambulism itself. 

With great respect, 

Your obedient servant, 
JOSEPH HARRINGTON, Jun. 
Mr. T. C. Hartshorn. 

FROM MR. FREDERICK S. CHURCH. 

Providence, Sept. 1st, 1837. 
Mr. T. C. Hartshorn, 

Sir — In a conversation with you a few evenings ago, 
you asked of me a short sketch of what I had seen of the 
phenomenon called somnambulism. 



148 APPENDIX. 

In reply, I can only say that my observation has been 
confined principally to one case, and that of a young lady 
of this city known to you.* I first saw her the latter part 
of May, and having previously heard much, but seen noth- 
ing, 1 was like most others, rather incredulous respecting the 
facts related to me by those who had witnessed them. Af- 
ter seeing her put into an apparently sound and quiet sleep, 
from which she could not be awakened by any of the means 
usually employed to rouse sleeping persons, the magnetizer 
proceeded to shew the influence of his will, by causing her 
to see things, which existed only in imagination. For in- 
stance, to drink water from an empty cup, and to eat bread, 
fruit, cake, &c. from an empty plate. She was also made 
to see and describe distinctly the number of persons in the 
room, articles of small size wrapped in many thicknesses of 
cloth, or in the pockets of the persons present. Having 
known of her being sent abroad and describing persons and 
things, and having found her descriptions to be generally 
correct, where proof was to be had, I was once induced to 
request her being sent to the island of Cuba, knowing that 
if she could describe things there of which neither she nor 
any one present, save myself, had the most remote concep- 
tion, it would, in my mind, put the matter of her spiritual 
vision beyond the possibility of a doubt. The request was 
complied* with, by sending her along the sea coast in a south- 
westerly direction, until she came to the peninsula of Flor- 
ida. She was then directed to go directly south over the 
sea until she came to land. Not more than half a minute 
elapsed before she announced her arrival. She was then 
told to seek a ci'y. It was almost immediately found, and 
being called on to describe the entrance from the sea, I was 
satisfied she was at Matanzas. Wishing at that time to 
have her at Havana, she was directed to go west about 
sixty miles, until she came to another city, which she did. 
Being told to enter it by the harbor, and relate what she 
saw, on the right hand side going in, she described a large 
stone building^ unfinished, which I knew to be a new prison 

* A patient of Dr. Brownell, alluded to in Note 24. 



APPENDIX. 149 

then building, likewise the city Wal Is, mounted with cannon, 
the shipping and the harbor generally, with the forts on the 
opposite side of the entrance, Moro Castle, Castle Blanco, 
the light-house, &c. Leading questions were of course 
avoi led. 

She also described correctly the quay, the launches load- 
ing from an open shed, with many persons there collected, 
standing smoking, &c. ; which place is used as a kind of 
Exe . where the M merchants do most congregate." 

She was then directed to enter a large budding in that 
vicinity, the Cathedral, and her description of it was very 
miner % and so fir as my memory served, was very correct. 
Bei g asked what kind of church it was, she replied she 
did not k low, having never seen any thing of the kind be- 
fore. Obs jrving a number of priests officiating at the altar, 
her atl i itiori was directed to them. Gn being asked their 
probable age, she said that "two were nearly bald, and 
three, ilthough very young, were beginning to be so," fully 
satisfying me, that she recognised the "priest with the 
shaven croien," She saw one bearing a bright vessel, sus- 
pend-:. i by a chain, from whence issued a smoke, which he 
swung b fore; and others engaged apparently at prayer 
and kneeling before the altar. Occasionally a lid would 
close over it and the s noke cease, when it would be handed 
to a b »v i i attendance, then taken back again, and soused 
sever 1 times during the ceremony. She described with 
exac the organ as being very small for so large a 

building, and much out of place, which is the fact, being 
siluai \ in an arch of the ceiling above the capitals of the 
columns; the floor of the altar as being beautifully inlaid 
with marble in Mosaic ; also the many and splendid paint- 
ings on the walls. 

At another time she visited Matanzas, describing the 
vessels in the harbo;- with sufficient exactness for me to 
identify one in which I was interested; the quay or land- 
ing; the public square, with orange trees on the border; 
and a marble statu ; in the center ; the church at that place 
with the peculiar architecture and location of the town; to- 
gether with the interior of the church, the altar, statues, or- 

N* 



150 APPENDIX. 

naments, &c, including a miniature brig suspended from 
the ceiling, by some pious individual, who had been saved 
from shipwreck, by praying heartily to his patron saint, and 
thus fulfilled his vows by dedicating the said vessel to his 
or her glory. 

I recognised by her description, three ladies of my ac- 
quaintance at their residence. And her whole description, 
so far as my memory could be relied on, was strictly cor- 
rect. I would observe, that on first being sent to Cuba, no 
name of place was given her, and nearly ten days elapsed 
before I met her again, when she asked me where she had 
been sent ; as she knew it must have been in a foreign 
country, the appearance of things being so entirely different 
from any thing she had before seen. 

I close by giving you the assurance of my most implicit 
belief in what I have witnessed, only stating facts, and not 
attempting to account for them. 

Respectfully yours, 

FREDERICK S. CHURCH. 



Note 31.— Page 101. 

It may be that Deleuze had then in his mind the lamented 
Georget, who had published his work on Physiology a few 
years before. I am sure the reader will be obliged to me 
for translating the brief notice of him taken by M. Foissac, 
page 283. 

The experiments at the Hotel Dieu have proved the reality 
of a particular agent, entirely independent of the patient's 
imagination. Those of la Saltpetriere afford instances of 
the extraordinary phenomena of somnambulism, produced 
and tested by men who are an ornament to science, and 
whose talents and integrity no person has yet dared to dis- 
pute. It was not the love of the marvellous, nor of notori- 
ety, which induced M. Georget to study the subject. In 
his work on madness, he inserted the following passage ; 
« So long as these magnetizers perform their experiments 



APPENDIX. 151 

in the dark, with the aid of their abettors ; so long as they 
do not work their miracles before the Academy of Sciences 
or the Faculty of Medicine, they will permit us to omit the 
trouble of refuting their reveries or their faith." But Geor- 
get's incredulity having been shaken by the experiments of 
the Hotel Dieu, he examined with distrust what he at first 
rejected with disdain ; and six months after having written 
the preceding lines, he added, in a note, while his work was 
in the press, that he had since witnessed several magnetic 
phenomena, and that he had himself put to sleep several of 
his convalescent patients, and caused them to speak, of which 
we shall present a very succinct analysis. 

When he put his somnambulists in communication with a 
sick person, they immediately experienced a pain, an unea- 
siness, and sometimes a sharp affection in the corresponding 
organs. It often happened that they were immediately at- 
tacked with epilepsy and hysterical fits, when they touched 
persons afflicted with these maladies, just before the attacks 
came on.* 

A somnambulist, who had an inflammation of the left lobe 
of the lungs, said she saw very well, and as if with her 
eyes, the organs of her chest, and, in fact, gave a very 
remarkable description of them. The heart, said she, is 
enveloped by a membrane to which it does not adhere ; it 
receives seven vessels, two of which, appearing largest, were 
agitated by a peculiar movement. The disordered lobe 
appeared very red, resembling the liver in some parts, and 
presenting grayish spots in several others. The healthy 
lobe had a rosy appearance. In proportion as the inflam- 
mation diminished, she saw less and less clearly, and finally 
could not see at all. There was a relapse, and lucidity 
returned ; but it was limited to the diseased lobe, the other 
organs being no more seen. Georget observed several 
facts of the same kind. 

The therapeutic resources of his somnambulists presented 
nothing very remarkable. They rarely employed any but 
those remedies which were daily made use of in their pres- 

* See note on transmission of pain. 



152 APPENDIX, 

ence; bleeding, leeches, baths, moxas, blisters, and few 
potions. He always administered every thing they prescribed 
for themselves, and never had reason to repent of doing it. 
" It was curious," says he, "to see them, when awake, ex- 
claim against their own prescriptions, while blisters or moxas 
were in preparation." One of them, however, caused 
eighteen or twenty moxas to be applied to herself, several 
setor.s or issues, and a great number of blisters, in the space 
of eighteen months. 

Georget could, at pleasure, deprive his somnambulists of 
Sensation. The skin was totally insensible to the lively 
irritation of hot water deeply charged with ground mustard 
seed, and even to the burning of the moxa ; a burning and 
irritation which were extremely painful, when, by his will, 
the skin resumed its sensibility. 

He suspended the muscular power of his somnambulists 
with the same success, sometimes in one part, and some- 
tin os in another, and sometimes in all. One day he tried 
this power upon the respiratory muscles, and he produced 
sue') an immobility of the thorax, and such danger of suffo- 
cation, as very much to alarm himself, and make him de- 
termine to attempt nothing of the kind again. He says that 
if one were to recal a patient from the somnambulic state, 
without having restored motion to the muscles, and their 
proper faculties to the senses, a paralysis of the muscles and 
of sensation will continue.* Nothing could equal the sur- 
prise and fright which such a phenomenon caused to a per- 
son who experienced it for the first time ; whether it were 
the loss of hearing, of speech, or of motion. "The most 
sing ilar phenomenon, and the most worthy of attention," 
continues Georget, " relates to the foreknowledge of organic 
action, more or less distant in point of time, i" have seen, 
positively seen, a great many times, somnambulists announce, 
sever, il hours, several days, twenty days beforehand, the hour, 



* I have the authority of two magnetizers in this place, to slate 
this fact as having fallen within their own practice. But the sub- 
jects, on being plunged again into the magnetic state were relieved; 
and then were awakened free from pain. 



APPENDIX. 153 

the minute even, of the attack of epileptic and hysteric fits, 
and of the menstrual eruptions ; and indicate the duration 
and the intensity of the attacks ; things which were exactly 
verified" 

Six months after writing this article, he had observed 
many more new and extraordinaiy facts. Fie promised, in 
a note, to report an instance in the chapter on epilepsy ; but 
when, in his second volume, he traced the history of that 
disease, he added, that the reason which had made him de- 
fer the publication of these phenomena to the article on mag- 
netism, induced him to put it off to another period He says, 
nevertheless, the person to whom he referred, had displayed 
to him instances of prevision and clairvoyance so astonish- 
ing, that he had never read any thing so extraordinary, in 
any work on magnetism, not even in those of Petetin. 

This somnambulist, Petroville, declared that a great 
fright would cure her. After she had been thrown into 
one, she assured her friends, while in somnambulism, that 
she was radically cured. In fact, she experienced no new 
attack during three months, while before she used to have 
two every day. 

The author of " Cures operated in Frarce by Animal 
Magnetism," states, in his first volume, page 258, that this 
patient, Petroville, said one day to Mr. Londe, one of the 
French physicians sent into Poland to observe the Cholera, 
that in fifteen days he would have an affair of honor, and 
would be wounded. Mr. Londe consigned this fact to his 
memorandum, without attaching importance to it, and he ap- 
peared to have forgotton it, when, fifteen days afterwards, 
he received a sword cut from the hand of one of his associ- 
ates. 

In the " Physiology of the Nervous System," Georget 
makes no mention of the names of his somnambulists, nor 
of the place where he made his experiments, nor of the nu- 
merous witnesses, physicians and others who were convinced 
like himself, "It is because," says he, "we live in an age 
when it is permitted to conceal our belief in magnetism." 

How shall we reconcile this timidity with the courageous 
homage which in his work he renders to all useful discove- 



154 



APPENDIX, 



ries and especially to magnetism ! The true reason of his 
reserve and his silence, was the fear of displeasing those 
who had the administration of the hospitals, who had se- 
verely interdicted all essays of that nature. He proposed 
to publish, at some future day, more in detail, if his time 
should permit him, the result of his observations. He ex- 
pressed his desire to me, in the last interview I had with 
him ; he wished to recommence his experiments and give 
himself up wholly to new researches.— " For I am persuad- 
ed," said he to me, " that great truths have escaped observ- 
ers ; but far from accusing them of exaggeration, I rather 
believe they have in their recitals, kept below the reality. 
I believe, for example, that there is no perfect mode of treat- 
ment, but that which somnambulists prescribe for themselves ; 
and that it is possible to render their admirable instinct ser- 
viceable to others. In one disease (fluxion de poitrine) every 
physician knows that bleeding is necessary, but he does not 
know the precise moment of the operation ; at what vein it 
ought to be done, and the exact quantity of blood it is neces- 
sary to draw, &c." 

He then read to me the details of his first experiment at 
the SaltpetrieYe. The woman whom he magnetized, be- 
came somnambulous, and in the midst of great agitation, 
told him, that at a certain period, she would be attacked by 
a serious disease, and die of it, at such a day and such an 
hour. Georget not then knowing any works in which facts 
of this kind were mentioned, and ignorant that somnambu- 
lists could themselves give the means of turning aside the 
effects of their previsions, believed it must of necessity be 
accomplished. Full of terror and grief, he hastened to 
awake her; and, at the time indicated, she fell a victim to 
the disease which she had foreseen. 

Georget died at the commencement of a career so bril- 
liantly begun, in the midst of the labors he had sketched 
out for himself, and of his dreams of the future. All the 
physiological facts which he had observed with so much 
care, are probably lost to science ; for since his death, no 
person has spoken of publishing the notes which he left. 
But he himself rendered a last, a striking homage to the 



APPENDIX. 155 

principles of magnetism, by these words inserted in his will : 
" I will not finish this document without adding to it an im- 
portant declaration. In 1821, in my work on the Physiol- 
ogy of the Nervous System, I proudly professed material- 
ism. The preceding year I had published a treatise on 
Madness, in which are laid down principles contrary to, or 
at least different from the ideas in agreement with, the gen- 
eral belief, (p. 48, 51, 52, 114); and hardly had I pub- 
lished the Physiology of the Nervous System, when new 
meditations upon a very extraordinay phenomenon, somnam- 
bulism, would permit me no longer to doubt of the existence 
in us and out of us, of an intelligent principle, altogether dif- 
ferent from material existences. It is, if you please, the soul 
and God. In regard to this matter, I have a profound con- 
viction, founded upon facts which are not to be controverted. 
This declaration will not see the light, until no one can doubt 
its sincerity or suspect my intentions. If I cannot publish 
it myself, I urgently entreat the persons who may take no- 
tice of it, at the opening of the present testament, that is to 
say, after my death, to give it all the publicity possible. 
March 1st, 1826." 



Note 32. 

FROM MOSES B. LOCKWOOD. 

Respected Friend — In the appendix to the second part 
of thy translation of " Deleuze's Practical Instruction," I 
notice a number of cures that have been either wholly or 
partially effected through the agency of animal magnetism. 
It seems desirable to record as many cases of this kind as 
facts will permit. If an unbeliever be told of an individual 
who, after being magnetized, has ceased to be afflicted by a 
malady that had been hanging about him perhaps for years, 
he will be very likely to reply, "It wasn't magnetism ; it 
will happen so sometimes." Chance, however, can only be 
brought to bear against solitary instances. By multiplying 



156 APPENDIX. 



cases, retreat under cover of" It will happen so sometimes," 
will be cut off. 

It is for this reason that I take additional pleasure in com- 
plving with thy request. 

*G. C****, for four or five winters has been subject to the 
croup, (as he, and those who have attended him, termed it,) 
so that scarcely the space of two weeks during either of 
these winters, elapsed, without his becoming an inmate of the 
nursery, until the 12th month, 13th day, 1836, when I mag. 
netized him, not only wishing to put him asleep, but also, 
to cure his disease. No medicine was used, yet he has not 
had a return of it since. 

The following facts go to show that "the phenomena of 
animal magnetism are not produced solely through the in- 
fluence of the imagination." In endeavoring to ascertain 
this point in the early part of my experimenting, frequent 
occasion was U an to magnetize an individual when he was 
totally ignorant of my intention, and when his mind was 
closely engaged with other things. For example, when he 
was studiously endeavoring to solve some mathematical 
question, or to commit some passage to memory, I have 
repeatedly caused him to sleep, simply by the action of my 
will ; being in dome cases with my face towards him, in 
some with it from him ; sometimes in the same, at others in 
a different room ; generally in the same house, but occa- 
sionally at a much greater distance. On one occasion we 
were at dinner, he at one table and I at another, and so 
so situated that my face could not be seen by him. ^When 
I went to the table I had not even thought of magnetizing 
at that time ; but as his mind appeared to be very far from 
magnetism, it seemed to be a very favorable opportunity to 
test the point ; and although no*one around me suspected 
what was going on, yet in less than three minutes his head 
dropped upon the shoulder of the one that was next to him. 
I then awaked him, when he turned round and cast a look 
towards me, by which I understood that he knew what I 
had been doing. In this and the other instances alluded to, 
it would be absurd to endeavor to maintain that his imngi. 
nation produced the result. " The phenomena of animal 



APPENDIX. 157 

magnetism are not produced," therefore, "solely through 
the influence of the imagination." 

Clairvoyance. — After putting a patient asleep, I left him 
for the purpose of ascertaining the correctness of his account 
of what was transpiring at a distance. He was in commu- 
nication with C. W. J. With me were M. B. H. and J. 
C. On our return, after an absence of about an hour, C. 
W. J. informed us that the magnetized had traced our 
course; said that I "fell down on some ice in the path," 
&c. He said further, that while we were returning, "just 
before we came to a rope-walk, we all laughed very loud 
at something which M. B. H. told us." He was correct in 
all these instances. 

Respectfully, 

MOSES B. LOCKWOOD. 
Thomas C. Hartshorn. 



Note 33. 

LETTERS FROM PHYSICIAN. 

from doctor cutter of new-hampshire. 

Nashua, Nov. 22, 1837. 

Sir — The second number of your translation of Deleuze's 
work was duly received. No encomium of mine can add 
to its intrinsic 'merit. The chapters " on the precautions in 
the choice of a magnetizer," and " magnetism applied to dis- 
ease in connexion with medicine," need only to be read to 
be appreciated by the moral, the intelligent, and the hu- 
mane. As your valuable appendix is intended to record 
facts and observations made by American citizens, I send 
you a few cases. 

Neuralgia or Tic Douloureux. — I was called to see Miss 
E. M. of this town. The disease was confined to the right 
side of the face, the portio dura of anatomists being dis- 



158 APPENDIX. 

eased. This was of long standing. I proposed the trial of 
magnetism. To this she assented. Somnambulism oc- 
curred in a few minutes. After she had slept a little time, I 
awoke her. The pain was gone. I repeated magnetism 
several times. There has been no return of the pain. 

Neuralgia, after filling a carious tooth, — Miss D. applied 
to a skilful dental surgeon, Dr. J. M. Reed, for advice rel- 
ative to a carious tooth. Dr. R. filled the tooth with gold 
foil. But the nerve being exposed and very sensitive, the 
filling was of necessity removed. It was replaced and re- 
moved several times, the young lady not being able to en- 
dure the pain caused by the pressure of the gold on the 
sensitive and diseased nerve. All the branches of the tri- 
facial nerve had become painful. After the tooth had been 
filled, she applied to me to render my aid in giving relief 
by magnetism. At the first sitting the pain was completely 
removed, but sleep was not induced. In a little time there 
was a partial return of the pain, and I again magnetized 
her. At this sitting she became a lucid somnambulist, the 
pain was entirely removed and has not returned. From 
the result of this and some other cases, I think magnetism 
worthy the attention of dental surgeons. 

Delirium Tremens, — June 20, 1837. — Mr. S. L., afflict- 
ed with delirium tremens caused by the free use of stimulat- 
ing drinks, applied to me for medical advice, having passed 
several days and nights without sleep, and having used 
opiates in large doses without benefit. I tried the effect of 
magnetism. In a little time it caused tranquillity, followed 
by sleep. I rep-ated it two or three times, and the man 
was able to resume his usual business. In this form of dis- 
ease, when there is an increase of action with a diminution 
of the powers of the system, I think patients may receive 
much benefit from the use of magnetism. 

Bronchitis. — Aug. 27. — Miss A. C, for two years had 
been laboring under chronic bronchitis, characterized by 
coigh, dyspnoea, pain in the chest and between the shoul- 
ders. After trying many things, she consented to make 
trial of magnetism. She was magnetized several times. 
At each sitting, the dyspnoea, pain and cough were removed. 



APPENDIX. 159 



This I could effect without influencing any other part of the 
system. The paroxysms of coughing and dyspnoea became 
less severe and less frequent, but her circumstances pre- 
vented her from continuing the use of magnetism but a little 
time. She is now much better but not well. 

Dyspepsia and Spinal Irritation. — Miss F. F. for some 
years had been afflicted with pain in the stomach and back, 
attended with soreness, appetite capricious, and when food 
was taken it caused much distress. Under the circum- 
stances, at her request, I magnetized her. It caused sleep, 
free sweating, and complete relief from pain. Magnetism 
was repeated several times. The pain in the back and 
stomach, and distress after taking food, were completely re- 
moved. In this case the patient became a lucid somnam- 
bulist. After the disease was removed, this lady ceased to 
be a somnambulist, and was not susceptible of magnetic in- 
fluence. This is worthy of observation in using magnetism 
as a remedial agent. 

Partial Paralysis.— A few months since, I was consulted 
by Miss S. H. who for more than four years had been 
troubled with pain in the back part of the head, and want 
of feeling and strength of the muscles on one side, something 
like the wry neck. I advised a trial of magnetism as she 
had been under different methods of treatment and had re- 
ceived no benefit. To this she consented. At the first sit- 
ting imperfect sleep was induced, followed by very free 
sweating in the paralyzed part. I repeated magnetism 
several days in succession. The pain in the head was re- 
moved and sensibility and mobility restored to the parts 
paralyzed. In this case somnambulism was complete. 
She is now perfectly well. 

Headache and Dyspepsia. — A few months since I was 
called to see a lady from Chelmsford, Mass., who for some 
two years had been afflicted with much pain and heat in 
the stomach and chest, and a peculiar, heavy pain in the 
head, for which she had tried many things, and had found 
no relief. This case was attended with pallor of the skin, 
and great coldness of the extremities. I made use of gentle 
aperient medicine, and magnetism. At the first sitting, the 



160 APPENDIX. 

pain in the head and stomach was much increased primarily, 
but this was followed in a little time by relief from pain, 
free sweating, and warmth in the skin and extremities. I 
continued to magnetize this lady for about two weeks, once 
each day. The effects after each sitting were the same as 
at first ; but the primary increase of pain gradually dimin- 
ished, until the magnetic action was quite agreeable. The 
disease in the head, lungs, and stomach, was completely 
removed in about three weeks, and this lady has since re- 
mained well. 

Hepatitis and Cephalalgia. — About three months since, 
Miss A. applied to me for medical advice relative to a pain 
in the head and the region of the liver. Her food caused much 
distress. These complaints were of some years standing, 
for which she had taken much medicine. She had been 
salivated three times for the pain in the side, without benefit. 
At her request I tried magnetism. The pain in the head 
was completely removed after a few sittings, and returned 
no more ; but the side was not bettered. I applied a blister 
to the right side, and continued the use of magnetism. The- 
pain in the region of the liver yielded immediately, and has 
not since returned. This lady is now perfectly well. In 
this case magnetism and vesication mutually aided each 
other. 

Chronic Inflammation of the stomach and bowels. — In the 

early part of last summer, I was applied to by Mrs. S. A. 

for medical advice. It was her desire to be magnetized. 

This was one of the most complicated cases of disease I 

ever saw. For more than ten years, this lady had been 

afflicted with great pain in the head, dizziness, want of sleep, 

and so great was this, that she said she had not slept one 

night soundly for many years, and frequently passed many 

nights in succession without sleep. There was constant 

pain in the left side, steady pain and soreness in the stomach 

and bowels, attended with frequent paroxysms of vomiting 

blood, with discharges of the same per anum. At these 

times the tumefaction of the bowels was great, attended with 

severe pains resembling colic, retention of urine and pain 

in voiding the same. Food, and all things taken into the 



APPENDIX, 



161 



stomach, caused great distress if not rejected. This had 
been the case for many years. These are a few of the 
leading symptoms. She had applied to many medical men 
for aid* and was nothing bettered. 

I commenced the treatment by trying the power of mag. 
netism. At the third sitting, complete magnetic sleep was 
produced. I continued this for some days, and I found that 
her rest became better, the cephalic and abdominal pains 
less severe. After some little time, I ceased magnetizing 
this lady myself, and Mrs. Cutter commenced magnetizing 
her. From time to time I gave such medicines as the case 
seemed to require, with external counter-irritation. Mrs. 
A. became a lucid somnambulist, examined herself and di- 
rected such things as she said would be of benefit. These 
prescriptions I followed as they appeared to me to be proper. 
She is now comparatively well. She sleeps well, and has 
been able to eat any thing for months without uneasiness or 
pain. The pain at d dizziness in her head very much les- 
sened. The pain and discharges of blood from the stomach 
and bowels is entirely removed. The urinary trouble is 
much relieved. Within a few days, she examined herself 
when in the magnetic state. She said that magnetism had 
been of great benefit to her, but that the medicine she had 
taken had been very important. She said that the blood 
vomited came from a sore in the stomach, and not from the 
bowels, as I had supposed ; and that this was cured by mag- 
netism and a particular medicine, and that it was now^com- 
pletely well. This, she says, was the cause of the food's dis- 
tressing her. She says there are eight large scars on the 
inside of the bowels where there were sores for a long time. 
She says the bladder is small, and will never be well ; but 
it is now somewhat better. She has been uniform in her 
assertions at the different times she has examined herself. 
I might mention that she says her head has been much ben- 
efitted by magnetism, but is not well and never will be. 
She said' her side would be well ; and such is the case at 
this time. In this case, I think the union of medicine and 
magnetism has been very happy, and the results highly sat- 
isfactory in removing a mass of disease, which many good 



o* 



162 



APPENDIX. 



judges had deemed incurable. This and some other cases 
treated by me this season, fully sustain many of the remarks 
of the excellent Deleuze in his chapter on the connexion of 
magnetism with medicine, and in that on somnambulism. 
Yours, &c. 

CALVIN CUTTER. 
Mr. Thomas C. Hartshorn. 

from the same. 

Nashua, Nov. 29, 183?. 
Sir — The following observations are at your disposal •. 
do with them as you may think proper. It is known to the 
observing physician and others, that we frequently meet 
with diseases in which there is a local increase of vital pow- 
er or action. These are, in general, characterized by pre- 
ternatural heat, arterial throbbing, swelling, and frequently 
pain, commonly termed inflammation. We also meet with 
diseases, in which there is an apparent diminution of the lo* 
cal, and it may be, general vital forces, distinguished by a 
diminution of teat, arterial action and contraction of the size 
of the parts, commonly seen in cases of paralysis and debil- 
itating diseases. Now, it is obvious to any person, that in 
most cases, a remedy producing the same uniform effects, 
would not be proper in the two above named classes of dis- 
ease. Ceteris paribus — if ii benefited the one, it would in- 
jure the other. Consequently, if the magnetizer cannot 
modify the effects of the influence which he may exert, he 
cannot benefit diseases of a sthenic and asthenic character, 
by this agent. It will be seen by my remarks, that I think 
it highly necessary for the magnetizer to be a person well 
acquainted with the causes and character of diseases^ or that 
he should act under the direction of some person who has 
this knowledge. Magnetism should not be used at nap-haz- 
ard to cure diseases by every ignorant person, or any igno- 
rant person who may by chance have learned that he has 
this natural and inherent power. If this care is pursued, 
magnetism may continue reputable and useful. In rela- 



APPENDIX. 163 

tion to the ability which I possess of modifying this in- 
fluence, so as to cause by my will alone, either sedative, 
stimulant, or soporific effects, I have been making observa- 
tions for some time, and upon different persons, and am sat- 
isfied that it can be don<>, although difficult. To accom- 
plish it easily, I am obliged to keep in mind the relative 
anatomy of the different parts of the system, particularly 
that of the nervous system. The following are my obser- 
vations on this point : 

About the middle of November, I accidentally met a lad 
in the street, a son of Mr. Wm. Lovejoy, who was obliged 
to use two crutches in consequence of a complete paralysis 
of one leg, from the hip downward. He is about seven 
years old, and has been in this state more than five years. 
It is said to have followed, and to have been caused by, a 
severe fever. He eould move the toes of the diseased limb 
a very little. He was brought to my office, and I took one 
of his hands and held it a little time, and then passed my 
fingers over his arm a few times with the intention to para- 
lyze his arm. I then asked him to move his arm, and he 
could not. There had been nothing said relative to mag- 
netism in his presence, and consequently imagination was 
not on the alert. A short time after, I saw the boy at Mr. 
Lovejoy's house. Without making any remarks concern- 
ing my desires, I took his hand with the intention to put the 
boy to sleep. In about one minute he was in a profound 
sleep. In a short time I awoke him, and then passed my 
fingers over the diseased limb several times. This limb is 
always cold. After being magnetized as above named, I 
examined the limb, and found it of an icy coldness and no 
mobility in the toes. 

On the following day I again called, and found the limb 
with its wonted coldness. I then magnetized with the in- 
tention of removing the coldness without causing the least 
loss of motion. In a few minutes the limb became quite 
warm, as much so as the other, with some moisture, and he 
could move the toes much more freely. In the experiments 
on the limb the head was not affected. In these different 



164 APPENDIX. 

experiments, the lad and those present, were not made aware 
of my intention until after magnetizing. 

1 have obtained similar results on many different persons; 
but the above I deem satisfactory, as the age and circum- 
stances of the lad, and his entire ignorance of magnetism, 
preclude the probability of that active and almost universal 
agent, imagination, being in the field of this experiment. 

CALVIN CUTTER, 

Mr. Thomas C. Hartshorn. 

FROM DOCTOR CLEVELAND. 

Pawtuxet, Dec. 10, 1837. 

Dear Sir— On the 31st of May last, I was called to see 

Mrs. , a lady about fifty years old, whom I found la- 

boring under a violent inflammation of the chest. On the 
3d ofJufle, her symptoms became alarming. At a consul- 
tation of physicians her case was considered quite hopeless. 
Her pulse was intermitting, her extremities cold, she had a 
partial delirium, a wakefulness that had continued forty - 
ei"ht hours, restlessness, and extreme distress in the system 
generally, and especially in the chest. Further attempts 
were made to procure sleep, which as heretofore proved 
unavailing. Opium, in its various preparations, was resorted 
to, both internally and externally, with no other effect than 
aggravation of suffering. From idiosyncrasy, she was 
never able to procure rest from this drug. At the expira- 
tion of twelve hours, I found her appearance still worse, 
symptoms of mortification being more decided. 

Under the circumstances, I was induced to magnetize 
her, though I had but slight hopes of affording relief. At 
the end of thirty minutes I threw her into a quiet sleep. 
My own surprise was surpassed by that of her friends, who 
were entirely ignorant of the cause of her sudden and un- 
expected relief. She awoke at the end of two hours, with- 
out exhibiting any particular change in her appearance, 
except a greater regularity of the pulse. In a few hours 
she was magnetized again, and warmth was restored to the 
extremities ; the circulation was also improved. 



APPENDIX. 165 

She was magnetized a third time, and awoke twenty-four 
hours after the first operation, with her reason perfectly 
restored. From this time her disease assumed a more fa- 
vorable turn. She was occasionally magnetized with much 
relief, until her natural sleep was restored, and recovery 
ensued. 

Not much doubt can exist as to the cause of the changes 
which took place during the twenty hours alluded to above, 
as no other means than magnetism was made use of during 
that time ; and without this, it is more than probable that 
the case would have terminated fatally. 

On the 31st of August of the present year, I was called 

upon to attend Mrs. ,* who was suffering a severe 

and deep-seated pain in the breasts, arising from a scrofu- 
lous affection. Although there was no obstruction to the 
flow of milk upon the application of the child or of the 
pump, yet the pain produced by them was almost insup- 
portable. The ordinary means had been resorted to, but 
not successfully even in the slightest degree. Her suffer 
ings, on the contrary, were daily increased, until other 
organs, from a peculiar sympathy well known to nurs- 
ing women, became affected to such a degree, that the 
application of the child or of the pump induced such violent 
spasms, that it became absolutely necessary to abandon the 
use of both as the means of removing the superabundance 
of milk. 

Recourse was had to magnetism. Sleep was produced 
in forty minutes, and sensibility so far suspended that in- 
stead of its requiring several persons to confine her to the 
bed, as heretofore, while attempting to nurse the child, she 
expressed the greatest delight while it was nursing, turned 
her face towards it, (her eyes being closed,) and caressed 
and fondled it in the most affectionate manner. I cautioned 
her to retain a knowledge of her impressions, when she 



* The translator had conversed with the husband of this lady, a 
respectable trader of this city, in relation to this case, before he re- 
ceived Dr. C.'s account of it, which confirms that gentleman's 
statement. 



1^6 APPENDIX, 



awoke, to which she replied, " you need not fear, I never 
shall forget them !" 

It being necessary for me to leave her, I asked her how 
long she would sleep, to which she promptly replied, " a 

Her friends being unwilling that I should leave her in 
the magnetic state, I remained two hours, during which 
time her sleep was uninterrupted, I then left her with the 
assurance that I would return as soon as possible. \bout 
six hours afterwards, I found her suffering, though less se- 
verely than before. The same pleasant effects followed in 
the second magnetic sleep, into which she was immediately 
thrown. After directing some necessary arrangements for 
the night, I put her in communication with her husband and 
the nurse, and retired, leaving a request that I should be 
called jf occasion required it. 

On calling again the next morning at five o'clock, she 
was still in the magnetic state, having been so seven hours, 
although she had been removed to another bed, had taken 
refreshments several times herself, and attended duly to the 
demands of her child. 

Her sufferings from this time became less severe, al- 
though permanent relief was not obtained until a suppura- 
tion had taken place in one of her breasts. 
Yours, 

M ^ „ TT THOMAS CLEVELAND. 

Mr. T. C. Hartshorn. 

FROM DOCTOR UTLEY. 

Providence, Oct. 13th, 1837. 

Dear Sir— I feel that I shoulJ do injustice to withhold 
some facts that, have recently come under my observation 
appertaining to the subject In which vou are interested' 
Notwithstanding my former skepicisn/in reference to this 
matter, I must, when constrained by incontrovertible evi- 
dence, own myself a believer. 

After having heard much from credible authority, and 
witnessed some astounding facts myself in two cases, I re- 



APPENDIX. 167 

solved, if a favorable opportunity ever presented, to ascer- 
tain whether I had the power of effecting what is denomi- 
nated the magnetic sleep, at.d in compliance with your re- 
quest, I submit to your disposal the detail of the following 
case. 

Mrs. W. C. is about twenty-six years of age. Her 
health had been very feeble several months, and she had 
been most of the time under medical treatment. One day, 
as I was leaving the room of the patient, I was requested by 
several of those who were present, among whom was the 
husband and mother, together with the patient, to magnetize 
her ; they having reference to the operation as a remedy for 
her restless nights, and violent pain in the head, with which 
she had been afflicted several weeks. In answer to them, I 
acknowledged my inexperience in the subject. However, 
after they had repeated their importunities, with an evident 
expression of skepticism depicted in their countenances, I 
asked the patient if she was sincere in her request. She 
said she was willing I should make the trial, although she 
was skeptical in regard to it. 

Thus privileged, I made a persevering effort by manipu- 
lating, accompanied with concentration of thought, and all 
the benevolent and pure emotions I was capable of feeling 
towards a fellow-being, at the same time somewhat faithless 
in regard to my success ; but determined to make a thor- 
ough trial. After manipulating about twenty minutes, I dis- 
covered in the patient an inclination to close the eyes. This 
appearance evidenced nothing more than an inclination to 
natural sleep, as would be consequent upon soothing the 
nervous system in this manner. After continuing the man- 
ipulations about ten minutes more, her chest heaved with a 
sigh, and she completely closed her eyes as in a natural 
sleep. Still doubting my success as to its being a magnetic 
sleep, I thought I waould test it. I passed my right hand at 
a distance from her left, and willed her to take my hand. 
She as promptly obeyed as though she had consented to a 
verbal request. I became convinced that a magnetic sleep 
was produced. I then, to satisfy myself and others present, 
that there was no deception on her part, bandaged her eyes 



168 APPENDIX. 

with several thicknesses of a handkerchief, with portions of 
it placed upon the inner canthus next the nose, which pre- 
caution rendered it impossible for her, under any circum- 
stances, to use her natural organs of sight. I then brought 
my hands together at a distance from hers, and rotated my 
thumbs over each other, with a mental request that she 
should do likewise, which desire she as promptly obeyed as 
though she had seen the motion of my thumbs with her 
naked eyes, and heard my voice with her natural organs of 
hearing. I then reversed the motion of my thumbs, and 
every motion and position of my hands, thumbs, fingers, 
and arms, was responded to by her in obedience to my 
will, as though they had been directed and moved by my 
own muscles and powers of volition. I then tried her pow- 
ers of speech, and asked her if her head was free from pain. 
She said it was. I asked her if she felt comfortable in ev- 
ery other respect. She said she did. I then tested her 
discerning powers. I held my watch to the back of her 
head, and requested her to tell which side of it was next to 
her head. She answered correctly. Can you discern the 
hands of my watch ? " Yes." Will you tell me what time 
it is ? She answered, but not correctly, within several min- 
utes. I then asked her if she could see the clock, which 
was in an adjoining room. It was impossible for the patient 
or any others in the room where we were, to see it with natu- 
ral vision. She said she could see it. Can you see the 
hands of the clock ? " Yes." Will you tell me the time 
by it ? She told to a minute. The same questions in re- 
ference to the time, by the clock, were repeated in the course 
of her sleep, and answered correctly. 1 then requested her 
to tell me how many persons there were present in the 
room. She hesitated about long enough to count them, and 
answered correctly. I asked her in what position and what 
part of the room certain individuals were. She told cor- 
rectly. I promiscuously placed the hands of those present 
in hers, and requested her to designate and call by name 
the person whose hand she had hold of. She told correctly 
with one or two exceptions, which mistakes were corrected 
on asking the question the second time, and after various 



APPENDIX. 159 

other experiments to test the magnetic vision, I requested 
her to wake at such a minute by my watch. She passed 
over the appointed time, about five minutes, with all the 
appearances of rousing from her usual sleep. I asked her 
if she felt refreshed from her recent sleep. Said she, I feel 
refreshed, and free from pain in my head, but have not 
been in a natural sleep. I have been in an indescribable 
state, and felt perfectly obedient to what you desired me to 
do, but cannot now recollect what particular requests you 
made when I was in that state. 

This want of recollection corresponds with other reports 
upon the subject, for I did not will her to remember the 
experiments that were performed. After informing her of 
some astonishing facts in regard to them, she expressed 
doubts of the propriety of putting one into such a state, and 
manifested an unwillingness ever to be magnetized again = 
but taking into consideration its remedial effects in her case 
I thought I should do right to insist upon a repetition,' 
and obtained the privilege but three subsequent times, the 
fourth and last time in the presence of Doctor Miller, who 
had been my consulting physician in the case ; and for fur. 
ther information and evidence in regard to these experiments 
and others instituted by himself, you are referred to him for 
testimony.* 

Yours, with much esteem, 

AT ^ r, tt L - UTLEY. 

Mr. T. C. Hartshorn. 

FROM DOCTOR TOOTHAKER. 

Cambridgeport, Dec. 6th, 1837. 
Mr. T. C. Hartshorn, 

Dear Sir— Yours of the 2d instant was duly received, 
since which my engagements have been such, that, till the 
present moment, I have had no opportunity of answering it. 

* Her complaint was dyspepsia, and her stomach was apt to reject 
her food a short time after eating. But after being magnetized, it 



170 APPENDIX. 

I am perfectly willing to furnish you with any facts within 
my knowledge, on the subject of animal magnetism, which 
are of a character suited to a popular work. The detail of 
some cures, in which I have used it successfully as a rem- 
edy, would be better suited to the columns of a medical 
journal, where they may at some future time appear. 

My attention was directed particularly to the subject of 
animal magnetism, nearly a year since, by the urgent solici- 
tation of a literary friend, that I should read the report of 
the French Academy. I was, at first, entirely incredulous, 
and unwilling even to read attentively. But I soon found 
there was testimony of such a character in its favor, as to 
demand of every physician a candid examination of the 
subject. Further to satisfy myself of the reality of the 
alleged phenomena, I commenced experiments upon a girl, 
aged about sixteen, in whose case idiocy and mania were 
combined. I thought her a favorable subject for experi- 
ments, as there was no possibility of deception. After two 
or three sittings, I succeeded in producing evident drowsi- 
ness, as was apparent to all present. She gaped several 
times, dreuled, and presented other phenomena, common 
harbingers to sleep. When in this state, she will always 
start suddenly, as if to relieve herself of its spell, and has 
never gone into a sound magnetic sleep. On one occasion, 
she immediately after left the room, and went up stairs into 
her sleeping chamber alone, which she had never before 
done in her life. 

These experiments, made on such a subject, so far con- 
vinced me of the reality of a natural power of this kind, 
given to man by his Creator, that I determined to test it by 
further experiments when opportunity offered. I conse- 
quently soon tried the manipulations on a young lady of 
lymphatic temperament, and plethoric habit, who was in 



appears to have acquired, in a greater measure, the power of retain- 
ing nutriment. She also slept without the anodynes which she had 
formerly taken. 

Doctor Miller sent her to examine a patient of his, and her de- 
scription of the disorder was strikingly correct. 



APPENDIX. 171 

rather poor health at the time. At the second or third sit- 
ting a tolerably sound magnetic sleep was produced, yet she 
never became a somnambulist, strictly, and would wake if I 
conversed much with her. 

The third subject of my experiments, Mrs. M., who was 
an entire unbeliever in it, became a somnambulist by three 
or four sittings. I am certain she is capable of receiving 
impressions, when in the magnetic state, by the will alone. 
April 13th, magnetized her the sixth time. While she was 
eating a seed cake, I willed to have it taste bitter, without 
saying a word or making a sign. She immediately said, 
" It is as sour as swill," and threw it away. She soon after 
said, " It is bitter." I gave her a piece of wheat bread to 
eat, and willed it to be brown bread. I then asked what 
kind of bread it was. She said, "brown." 

April 20th. — Magnetized her in presence of several lite- 
rary gentlemen of this place. The experiments were pro- 
posed by them, singly, to me, in another room, that there 
might be no possibility of her hearing. I gave her an 
empty tumbler, and asked her to drink some lemonade ; at 
the same time I willed it to be tea. She made the motions 
of drinking, and said, "It tastes sickish." "What is it?" 
" Tea," she answered. Also by will made an apple taste 
Utter, and soon after, sweet as honey. These and other 
similar experiments were entirely satisfactory to those gen- 
tlemen who proposed them, though they were previously 
somewhat incredulous. 

May 2d. — Magnetized the same patient. There were 
present Doctors J. V. C. Smith,* editor of the Medical and 
Surgical Journal, and Leland, of Boston. Standing at some 
distance from her, I willed her to wake. She said, " Do n't 
be willing me to wake." Dr. Smith wrote for me to have 
a pleasant apple she was eating, taste like a cranberry. 
She immediately said, " It tastes very sour ;" and after 

* Dr. Smith had given me some account of these experiments,, 
previous to my writing to Dr. Toothaker. Many physicians in 
Boston and its vicinity, are engaged in investigating tho utility of 
magnetism as an auxiliary in medical treatment. — Translator. 



172 APPENDIX. 

much solicitation to tell what it tasted like, she said, " cran- 
berry. I knew before, but would not tell, you are always 
asking so many questions." 

With respect to clairvoyance, I am perfectly satisfied she 
has at times seen objects that she could not possibly have 
seen when awake. But as she complains of severe head- 
ache after much effort to see, and my principal object has 
been the restoration of her health, I seldom urge her with 
experiments of this kind. At one time she sat with her 
back towards the door of another room, and a lady present 
passed through the door and selected a book from a large 
number that were upon the bureau, which she brought pri- 
vately, and held over the head of Mrs, M., then in magnetic 
sleep. I asked her what was held over her head." She 
3aid, " A book," and afterwards told the title. There we* 
no leading question put to elicit the answer, nor could I 
think of any circumstance by which she would be induced 
to " guess right." I must therefore infer that she did actu- 
ally see it. To this some may object, and suppose that I 
informed her mentally, or by the will. I answer, it was 
impossible, as I avoided seeing it myself till she told what 
it was, 

June 17th. — Magnetized Mrs. M. She examined a 
gentleman who was in poor health, and told correctly his 
disease, though of such a character that I could not have 
detected it by any external examination ; and I knew noth- 
ing of it, even by conjecture, till she told. I was informed 
by them both, that she knew nothing of it before, and must 
infer that she saw it, as she said she did. It was a disease 
of a portion of the alimentary canal, for which he had for- 
merly been under treatment at the Massachusetts General 
Hospital a long time. 

I can establish a communication between her and others, 
either by will or by contact. This I have done with six or 
eight persons at a time, having them join hands, I have 
been careful to ascertain, that a communication may thus 
be established without the aid of the will. In support of the 
theory of some physiologists, that there is a nervous fluid, 
of an extremely subtile character, by the agency of which 



APPENDIX. 



173 



the brain and the nerves are enabled to perform their pe- 
culiar functions, I will add, that a much longer time is re- 
quisite to establish a communication with several persons, 
than with one ; and it is not destroyed for about the same 
length of time after I let go the hand of the one farthest from 
the somnambulist. It likewise requires a longer time to es- 
tablish a communication with some persons than with others. 
This part of the subject, however, needs further investiga- 
tion than I have yet been able to give it. 

Mrs. M. has been afflicted with painful affections of a dis- 
tressing character, and chronic disease, which seemed to 
bid defiance to the whole catalogue of remedies in the ma- 
teria medica, but which have been much relieved by the use 
of magnetism as a remedy. In truth, she seems to be fast 
recovering the health of former years. 

The fourth subject on whom I experimented, was put into 
the somnambulic state at the second trial. I have, in this 
case, once or twice, obtained decided evidence in favor of 
clairvoyance. She was in the magnetic sleep — her eyes 
closed. I took a newspaper from my pocket, I had just got 
at the office, and handed it to her. She began to read it. A 
lady present, then so blinded her eyes as to be perfectly cer- 
tain she could not see the least thing if awake, and yet she 
continued to read. I could not have informed her mentally, 
for I had not read it ; and she afterwards told me she had 
not before seen it. I have frequently relieved this pa- 
tient of intense pain by the use of magnetism. A short time 
before she was magnetized, she applied to me for advice, 
assuring me that for nearly or quite a year previously, she 
had been afflicted with a constant headache, and had used 
leeches and other remedies, without much effect. After 
being magnetized a few times, she said her headache was 
cured. It was six or eight months since, and she has had 
no return of a permanent headache. 

I have magnetized several other individuals of both sexes. 
A little boy, aged five years, was put into a profound sleep 
in fifteen minutes, at the first trial. Also, two little girls 
were magnetized about as easily ; but with none of these 
have the experiments been continued. A young man was 



p* 



174 APPENDIX. 

so far magnetized the first trial, that he was utterly unable 
to keep his eyes open, but did not sleep. The same effect, 
with slight sleep, was produced upon a gentleman who is 
engaged in investigating the subject. Probably, further ex- 
periments would produce the state of somnambulism in him. 

I have one other distinct case of somnambulism, but I 
could add nothing new with regard to it, that would be of 
special interest. 

I have, in this statement of facts relative to magnetic phe- 
nomena, and the cure of diseases, far out-written my own 
prescribed limits. I have necessarily written hastily ; but 
with an ardent desire that the whole truth may be known 
relative to so mysterious and deeply interesting a subject, 
I submit it to your disposal. 

I am, dear sir, 

Very truly yours, 

SAMUEL A. TOOTHAKER. 

from mons. b. f. bugard,* 

Boston, Nov. 10, 1837. 
Mr. T, C. Hartshorn, 

Dear Sir — I have just received your favor of the 7th 
inst. Only two of my cases have been published. One of 
these was the first given to the public in this part of the 



* Mons. Bugard is now attending lectures in Boston, with the 
design of entering the medical profession. And as his course of 
preparatory studies will soon be finished, he has a right to be placed 
here among the physicians who have been so kind as to furnish the 
communications embraced in this note. He will have the advan- 
tage of carrying into his profession the practice of magnetism, which 
places one more agent in the hands of medical men, calculated, not 
to supersede the use of remedies, but to aid their operation. If 
any one desires to know how far this practice obtains in the north 
of Europe, he will find a brief account and some references to for- 
eign authorities, in the work of Dr. Poyen recently published en- 
titled, " Progress of Animal Magnetism in New England ;" a work 
which from the great variety of facts which it contains, is highly 



APPENDIX. 175 

country; that of Mrs. Russell of this city, which appeared 
in the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, of the precise 
date of which I am ignorant, and I have no copy to send 
you. 

Although I am much interested in the subject, I am sorry 
to be obliged to say that I have been prevented from de- 
voting to it the attention it deserves. The little information 
I can give you shall be cheerfully granted. It will consist 
of a few facts only. As to the names of the persons allud- 
ed to in them, I do not feel authorized to give more than 
the initial letters for publication ; but on personal application, 
I shall be happy to give any one whatever proofs he may 
desire. 

One day in the fall of 1835, I was requested to magne- 
tize Mrs. R., a widow lady of almost forty years of age, 
who had been, for several years, afflicted with the tic douL 
oureaux in the lower part of the spine ; and with palpitations 
of the heart. When I went to see her, she had not for a 
fortnight left her chamber, which was in the fourth story, 
and she could not move without assistance, from her bed to 
her chair, or from her chair to her bed. She wished to be 
magnetized because all other remedies had proved of no 
avail, but being entirely ignorant of what magnetism is, she 
had merely fallen in with the suggestion of some one, that it 
might prove beneficial to her. After I had magnetized her 
only three times, she was so much better that she was able 
to go down into her kitchen, and attend to her daily occupa- 
tions. At the fourth or fifth sitting, she became a somnam- 
bulist. Her health improved so much and so rapidly, that 
on the day succeeding the seventh sitting, although she was 
not perfectly cured, she found herself so well that she went 
on a visit to Salem where some of her relations resided. 



interesting, and from the great number of respectable names avouch- 
ing them, is worthy of confidence. Of Dr. Poyen's fidelity, those 
who know him well, do not entertain a doubt. He labors under 
the disadvantage of having introduced a subject entirely new to the 
unlettered, and of having been most liberally vilified by men who 
misunderstood his character. 



170 APPENDIX, 

One day after putting this lady into somnambulism, I re- 
quested her daughter, a girl about nine years of age, to 
speak to her. She addressed her mother several times, 
calling aloud ; but receiving no answer, she burst into tears, 
thinking her mother to be dead, I 'took her little hand, and, 
placing it in the hand of her mother, told her to speak to 
her again. Her mother immediately answered her call, 
and the countenance of the child beamed with joy at the 
certainty of her being alive. 

This lady was prevailed upon to take another magnetizer, 
because I refused to make her an object of exhibition to the 
curious, But her health, instead of improving, grew worse, 
and her new magnetizer, Dr. D., who magnetized her 
merely for the purpose of making experiments, would have 
unmercifully sent her to the grave, had she not refused to 
continue the treatment. I mention this circumstance, be- 
cause it affords a striking proof of what is observed by 
Deleuze, in his Practical Instruction, as well as by other 
authors, relative to the dangers that frequently attend the 
change of a former successful magnetizer. 

Last summer was a year since I was requested to mag- 
netize Mrs. F v who, with other affections, had a pain be- 
tween the shoulders. At the second sitting, she experienced 
a sensation like the pain moving about, following the motion 
of my hands. She soon lost herself in a sleep, or at least 
in a partial sleep, and I left her. The pain left her too, for 
she felt it no more. 

At another time this lady was suffering from the tic doul- 
oureux in the face. In the afternoon, when I came in to 
give a lesson in French to her two daughters, she was in 
the same room with us, and in such an agony that I offered 
to relieve her by the use of magnetism. She assented to 
the trial. She had been magnetized hardly ten minutes, 
when I thought she was sound asleep ; but she opened her 
eyes, and said that her pain had subsided. I then left her 
to attend to the French lessons, which being finished, I re- 
quested one of the young ladies to see how her mother was, 
she having retired into another room, She went and re- 
turned, saying that her mother was entirely free from pain, 



APPENDIX. 177 

I understand that she has not been attacked since, though 
she had formerly suffered pretty often. 

About a year ago, I had occasion to magnetize Mrs. L., 
a French lady, who for many years had been afflicted with 
violent periodical headaches, with excessive vomitings, and 
some more serious affections. The day after the first sit- 
ting, she felt much better, and she continued to improve very 
rapidly. However, on the morning of the sixth or seventh 
day of her treatment, at about ten o'clock, her husband came 
to tell me that his wife had a violent headache, and a very 
great disposition to vomit. I immediately repaired to see 
her. She was sitting by the fire, having prepared some 
tea to aid the tendency. I magnetized her head only, be- 
fore she had taken any thing. She soon felt better, and in 
half an hour, the pain had almost subsided. I left her. In 
the evening I returned and found her very well. She said 
she had not vomited, and at one o'clock she had dined with 
a very good appetite. What is most to be remarked in this 
case, is, that before being magnetized, whenever such a head- 
ache took her, it never subsided until she had vomited to 
exhaustion. 

About a year ago I was called on by Mr. H., who re- 
quested me to magnetize his wife. This lady was suffer- 
ing severely with the tic douloureux in the face. She had 
been more or less affected with it for several years, and had 
now suffered for several weeks without finding any relief in 
the remedies of the best physicians of this city. I magnet- 
ized her several times without much apparent effect during 
the operation, but she slept much better afterwards. I think 
she was put asleep only twice, though I magnetized her 
about fifteen times. Her health, however, was gradually 
improving, the tic douloureux had subsided, and last week 
she told me, in the presence of several persons, that it had 
not returned. 

It is not quite a year since I was requested by a gentle- 
man, a Mr. V., to magnetize him. Fortw T oor three years 
he had had an affection of the stomach, and been treated as 
a dyspeptic. His physician finally declared his case to be 
the tic douloureux, and not the dyspepsia. He had been in 



178 APPENDIX. 

a state of constipation, for nearly a month. I magnetized 
him only five limes. The day after the first sitting, he felt 
much better, and had satisfactory evacuations. _ His health 
improved so much that he renounced the project he had 
formed of going to Cuba for his- restoration. I would ob- 
serve that it is not true that magnetism always has the ef- 
fect of filling the heart with tender and grateful sentiments ; 
for this Mr. V. has not yet come to my rooms to thank me 
for the good I have done him, although he found the way 
thither to request my services. 

One evening last winter, I went to see my friends. Dr. 
Benjamin H. West and Dr. Ruel W. Lawton, who boarded 
together and occupied the same room. Some refreshments 
were brought in during my visit. Early in the evening, 
Dr. L. said to me, 

" Monsieur Bugard, I know that you have magnetized 
several persons ; I wish you would give me some informa- 
tion on the subject of magnetism ; I should like to have my 
mind satisfied ; I do not know what to think of it." 

"Well," said I, "I can add but very little to what has 
been published on the subject, but if you are willing, I will 
try to magne'tize you." 

"Although I think it very wrong to magnetize a person in 
good health, I made him this proposal the more readily, be- 
cause his constitution i& rather feeble. 

" Very well," replied he» 

I began to magnetize him. For a quarter of an hour he 
seemed much inclined to laugh ; but I soon perceived I 
could produce an effect upon him. I therefore continued 
the manipulations, and in less than half an hour from the 
time of commencing, he was perfectly asleep. Whilst he 
was in that state, Dr. West and I indulged ourselves in de- 
molishing the refreshments. About a quarter of an hour 
had elapsed, when Dr. Lawton wildly opened his eyes. 

I immediately put my right hand on the pit of his stomach, 
exerting my will to put him asleep, This was done in less 
than half a minute. Then Dr. West and I went on demol- 
ishing as before ; and ten minutes had hardly elapsed, when 
Dr. L. opened his eyes upon us.. 



APPENDIX. 179 

I again placed my right hand upon his epigastrium, and 
my left on his thigh, grasping it near the knee, putting forth 
the power of volition ; and again Dr. L. went to sleep in 
less than no time. 

On his awaking about ten minutes afterwards, I asked 
him what he thought then of magnetism. " Well, sir, my 
skepticism is rather shaken," was the reply. 

Receive the expressions of consideration with which I am 

Your most ob't servant, 

B. F. BUGARD. 

PROM DOCTOR BENJAMIN HASKELL.* 

Boston, October 20, 1837. 

Dear Sir — I owe you an apology for not replying to 
your letter before. But the truth is, it was not in my power 
to send you any thing satisfactory relative to the inquiries 
you saw fit to make. And as I was in expectation of re- 
ceiving some farther details from a brother of mine residing 
in Gloucester, whom I had commissioned -to make inquiries 
of Mr. Blatchford, in particular, on those points which had 
a bearing on animal magnetism, your object as well as 
mine would be best answered by delay. Yesterday I heard 
from him, but he had not seen, nor was likely to see him 
for some time. When any thing comes to my knowledge 
calculated to throw light on this intricate subject, I will for- 
ward it without delay, that it may obtain all the publicity 



* I wrote to Dr. Haskell, in relation to the case of natural som- 
nambulism, which occurred at Gloucester, Mass., in 1834. I wished 
to ascertain whether the subject of that case had ever been brought 
under the influence of magnetism, as three-other similar cases have 
been. I deem his reply worthy of attention, as it embraces an opin- 
ion which is important, if correct, and which deserves weight from 
the scientific attainments of him who advances it. The ease of 
young Blatchford is given in a communication to the editor of the 
Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, of June '24th, 1837, by Dr. 
Haskell. Dr. H. is also the author of an ingenious aticle on Ani- 
mal Magnetism, which appeared in the same Journal, September 
20th, 1837. 



180 APPENDIX. 

possible. In the mean while, as you seem somewhat desir- 
ous of knowing my views on it, I shall take the liberty to 
express them without reserve. There is nothing unphilo- 
sophical in supposing that somnambulism may be induced 
by an agency transmitted from one individual to another. 
x\t the same time, whenever and however it takes place, it 
is a disease, and like all nervous disorders, has not only a 
tendency to recur, but to superinduce other diseases of the 
same class. I cannot but regard the practice of it as inju- 
rious to those on whom it is exercised, and, when its nature 
is fully understood, as morally wrong, except in those cases 
in which it is made use of as a remedial agent. You have 
my permission to insert this opinion in a note to your trans- 
lation, and combat it if you think it erroneous. I have nev- 
er magnetized any one, nor have I made myself acquainted 
with the steps by which it is done. The interest which I 
have taken in it, is not practical, but theoretical. 

Yours respectfully, 

B. HASKELL. 

Mr. Thomas C. Hartshorn. 



Note 34. 

SEEING THROUGH OPAQUE SUBSTANCES. 

FROM ISAAC THURBER, ESQ. 

Providence, Nov. 4th, 1837. 

Dear Sir — I take the opportunity which a few moments 
of leisure now ofFord me, to give you an account of a re- 
cent visit from Miss B. to my house. As I suppose you to 
desire an account, merely, of the phenomena then exhibited 
while under the magnetic influence, I shall notice briefly 
the facts in relation to them only. Miss B. came to my house 
on the morning of the 28th of October, with a view to pass 
the day with my family ; at about the close of the day she 



APPENDIX. 181 

was put into the magnetic sleep by Dr. C. At first she 
appeared to be in a state entirely senseless ; from this ap- 
parent slumber she was aroused by having her attention di- 
rected to the objects around her. Dr. C. then left her in 
communication with myself and family, with directions to 
awake precisely at six o'clock. During this interval Miss 
B. appeared cheerful, much disposed to converse, and 
at times quite playful. While in conversation, she expressed 
a desire to examine the arrangement of the house, the fur- 
niture, &c. In passing through the different rooms, she 
noticed and moved various articles. She was then conducted 
into a dark room, in which the largest objects could not be 
discerned by any one who was not possessed of more than 
ordinary powers of vision. On being requested to give the 
time by the clock which was in the room, she immediatelv 
stepped to the corner in which the clock stood, and replied, 
" it is twenty-three minutes past five." The answer was 
correct. I then asked her if she saw any other object in 
the room. She replied, " I am looking at the pictures " 
What pictures ? " This one over the fire-place." The pic- 
ture alluded to is composed of various emblems, together with 
a certificate of membership to an institution in this town. 
Miss B. described the emblems of justice, wealth, industry, 
and also the certificate, and mentioned the place in the pic- 
ture which each of them occupied. When speaking of the 
emblem of wealth, I requested her to place my finger upon 
it. On admitting light into the room, I found my finder 
pointing to a small figure representing wealth dispensuig 
her gifts from the horn of plenty. I would here state that 
Miss B. was never before in this room, and was entirely 
ignorant of the furniture which it contained. 

Having obtained the evidence of clairvoyance, I gave 
her a sealed paper containing a sentence, which I requested 
her to read. She held the paper to the side of her head 
for the space of about one minute, and then returned it to 
me without apparently noticing its contents. No further 
notice was taken of the letter during her sleep. Some time 
after she awoke, she gave the substance of the letter to one 
my family. This being communicated to me, I requested 



182 APPENDIX. 

Miss B. to write down the sentence inside, that it might be 
presented in her own handwriting, to a company that would 
meet with her at Mr. J. M.'s on the following evening ; at 
which time the sentence was so presented, in the following 
words : In these latter days as informer times, the blind re- 
ceive their sight. The letter was then brought forward, the 
seals of which until this time had not been broken, neither 
had the sentence or any part of it been communicated to 
any individual. It was opened by Rev. Mr. Stetson, of 
Medford, in presence of Rev. E. B. Hall, of this city, Mr. 
Jesse Metcalf, and a number of others, and found to contain 
the same sentence as that written by Miss B., differing only 
in the spelling of two words. The sentence was written on 
a slip of paper, and this placed between two pieces of sheet 
lead, the whole enclosed in an envelope in a letter form. 

Yours, &c. 

ISAAC THURBER. 

Mr. Thomas C. Hartshorn. 

FROM MR. GEORGE HUNT. 

Providence, Nov. 22d, 1837. 

Mr. Thomas C. Hartshorn, 

Sir Having heard much of the wonderful powers of 

Miss Brackett under the magnetic influence, and being 
rather skeptical as to her ability to see and describe objects 
that were previously unknown to her and all who were in 
attendance, believing at the time that she did not see the 
real object of her description as it existed, but the mere im- 
age of it in the mind of her magnetizer, or in the mind of 
those who were in communication with her, I was induced 
to try the experiment alluded to in your note. 

I took a wooden box, made of half inch stock, measuring 
eight inches by fourteen, perfectly tight, and filled it with 
various articles, curiously arranged. I presented it to Mr. 
Metcalf for Miss B.'s inspection. On inquiring about the 
result of her examination, I was informed that she took the 



APPENDIX. 183 

box and held it over her head, and saw a great variety of 
dried pressed leaves, and some flowers. Dr. Capron re- 
quested her to enter the box, which she effected through 
the key-hole, or the top, I do not remember which, and 
then mentioned two books, one pamphlet with a blue cover, 
one card marked L. M., and a substance that looked like 
tow, which I suppose was the bird's nest made use of on 
this occasion, the greater part of which was made of tow. 
She said there were many other things in the box, but the 
air was so confined that it troubled her to breathe ; and she 
was obliged to come out. 

Her description, so far as it went, was correct, except as 
to the nest. In this, however, she was correct as to the 
substance she saw. In the conclusion of her remarks on 
the box and contents, she seemed to think it belonged to 
some old maid. The result of this experiment is in every 
way satisfactory to me, so far as it goes, inasmuch as no 
one knew the contents of the box except myself. Every 
article was packed close, so that no one could have formed 
any conception of what the box contained, by shaking, or 
otherwise disturbing it. If these facts will aid you, you are 
welcome to them. 

Yours respectfully, 

GEORGE HUNT. 

In the ninth note of part first, several instances of the 
power of producing paralysis are given ; and I there stated 
that the power gained by the practice of magnetism may 
be found effectual in producing it without having a commu- 
nication previously established. The following letter from 
Dr. Knox, of New- York, gives well authenticated evidence 
that the conjecture was not unfounded. 

FROM DOCTOR KNOX. 

Providence, Sept. 24th, 1837. 
Mr. T. C. Hartshorn, 

Dear Sir — You requested me to communicate to you 
some facts in animal magnetism which I had observed. 



154 



APPENDIX. 



Although I cannot cert; :ach much impor. 

them, yet if you can mal: use of them th! 

fectly 

A few evenings since, being in company where the sub- 
ject of animal magnetism, at present so e 1 ssing a theme, 
was the topic of c; ::on, I was request* to magi: 

s:>me person present lor the amusement of the cemp 
This I declined, remarking at the sam, that I 

frequently known peculiar sensations produced loc 
the magnetic passes, and offering to make the atter 
this, much beyond my own expectation, and to the am 
mentof the company. I was complete!; assfiil. The 

magnetic operations, continued during reduced 

complete palsy of the left arm. Be, .jmplete an- 

nihilation of muscular p : . e arm lost to a certain degree 

its sensibility, and its temperati somewhat re. 

The firm health and previous skepticism of 
this experiment, conspired to render the result remarkable, 

ile her unquestionable veracity, her elex: 
surprise, and her reiterated assertions, precluded ad] s s .ion 
of imposition. re present on this occ: Diy 

Parsons, and^General Greene, of Provider: 

I have frequently made the same expe: and in the 

majority of cases, some peculiar sensations have been the 
result : generally a sense of weight in the arm, a 
immobility when compared with the other arm, and, though 
less frequenti;. . seme of pricking, such as occurs when 
the arm or foot is said to be asleep. Whether the, ha 

are the product of an excited imagination, or a direct influ. 
ence of the will of the magnetizes I shall not attempt to 
decide. the same time I must candidiv avow that a 

ske F at more than philosophic: which I 

commenced the investigation of the clau: inimal n 

netism, has been vanquished b; . hich 1 1 

(and less than ocular demonstration I did not feel inclined' 
to admit,) and by the curious results which, in a diver^ 
of cases, have followed my own experiments. I do not 
be understood as declar. belief in all that 

mag i or their patients, much less the retailers at 



APPENDIX. 185 

second hand of magnetic miracles, have asserted. Much 
allowance must be made for credulity, a love of the mar- 
vellous, and that propensity, so common, to make the most 
of the easy faith of our neighbors. Yet, after all these 
deductions, I apprehend there will remain a residuum of 
unimpeachable testimony, for facts which have hitherto been 
considered as warring with the laws of nature, and as pos- 
sible only on the supposition of miraculous interposition. 

By the politeness of Dr. Capron, I have had several 
opportunities of seeing Miss Brackett, whose case he has 
detailed in the first number of your translation. To test 
the lucidity of this somnambulist, I resorted to an experi- 
ment which had previously been frequently tried, and ac- 
cording to the assertions of the most respectable witnesses, 
with complete success. I wrote a note of four lines, directed 
to Miss Brackett, to the contents of which she could have 
no possible clue. I enclosed it in two envelopes, so that 
the writing was covered by four folds of paper. I sealed 
it with four wafers and four wax seals, and impressed it with 
a peculiar device. No light, however strong, could render 
it possible to discover that there was any thing written with- 
in. This was left with the somnambulist, and two days 
after, Dr. Capron returned it to me with the contents of the 
note written on the outer envelope, with the exception of 
one wprd which she could not decipher. This was no 
doubt owing to the illegible character of the handwriting, 
as on opening it, I was convinced I could not have read it 
myself but from recollection. She likewise wrote " senti- 
ments," instead of " selections," another mistake certainly 
attributable to the same cause. The note contained seven- 
teen words, which were known to no one but myself. It 
was returned as it was given, without the slightest appear- 
ance of having been handled or crumpled. The supposition 
of the removal or opening of the seals was out of the ques- 
tion. The idea that the discovery was a happy conjecture, 
is absurd. To resort to a mathematical expression, the 
chance of such a solution being unity, no number short of 
infinity could represent the opposite chances. Such facts 
as these, T grant, require for their establishment a mass of 
Q* 



186 APPENDIX. 

evidence, great in proportion to their marvellous character. 
Yet such a weight of testimony is rapidly accumulating, if 
it does not already exist, as must shake the incredulity of 
the most skeptical. The denial that any proof can establish 
such facts, involves principles no less dangerous, than those 
by which the celebrated Hume vainly sought to overthrow 
the evidence of Christianity. 

Respectfully yours, 

J. R. KNOX. 



Note 35. 

INSENSIBILITY TO PAIN. 

FROM DOCTOR ESTEN. 

Providence, Nov. 13th, 1837. 

Dear Sir — In the appendix of Deleuze, I find it given 
in the notes as an opinion, that the somnambulist always 
appears to know what the magnetizer is doing, and therefore 
he cannot perform a surgical operation without producing 
pain. I am led by the experiments which I have tried to 
think this is not always the case. I think the patient in the 
somnambulic state may sometimes know what the magnet- 
izer is doing, even while he is performing a surgical opera- 
tion, and may assist in the operation, and still be insensible to 
pain. This, perhaps, depends very much upon the degree 
of sympathy which the operator has for his patient, a sym- 
pathy that induces apprehensions lest the patient should 
suffer under the operation. 

On the 28th of October ultimo, a lady, in company with 
a friend of hers, called on me to have some teeth filled. 
One in particular was so badly decayed and so sensitive 
that the touch of an instrument produced severe pain, so 
much so, that she could not endure to have it filled until 
she was magnetized. Knowing that she had been fre- 
quently magnetized, I obtained permission to make use of 



APPENDIX. !87 



it on this occasion, to ascertain whether I could or could 
not perform the operation without producing pain. I threw 
her into the magnetic sleep in about five minutes. 1 then 
removed that entire portion of the tooth which was carious, 
without regarding the nerve or membrane, and filled the 
cavity. During the whole time, she showed no indications 
of pain. She appeared to know every thing I was doing, 
talked about the operation, opened her mouth when lap- 
proached her with an instrument, and closed it again when 
I withdrew it. I asked her if the operation was painiul, 
and she said it was not in the least. _ . 

The pain of removing the carious portion of a tooth 
where the nerve and membrane are exposed, as in this case, 
is greater than that of extracting the tooth. I should not 
have filled this tooth on account of the insufferable pam 
that would have naturally attended the work, and which 
would have followed it, had the patient not been magnetized. 
I filled two or three other teeth while the patient was in 
the somnambulic state ; but the one to which particular ret- 
erence has been made above, is the only one that would 
naturally be attended with much pain. Before I awoke 
her, I inquired if the tooth ached ; she said it did not, and 
that it was perfectly easy. On being awaked, she imme- 
diately clapped her hand to her face, and said her tooth 
ached. I advised her to keep the filling in, to give it a 
trial, and see if it would not stop aching. The next even- 
in* she sent for me, and informed me that her tooth had 
continued to ache ever since it was filled, and was then 
aching violently. I removed the filling, and applied some 
kreosote,but without producing the desired effect. I he 
tooth continued to ache violently. She was afterwards 
magnetized ; and while in that state, she asked for a knit- 
ting needle, which was given her. She heated the needle, 
and thrust it into her tooth with her own hand, for the pur- 
pose of destroying the nerve. In this she was successful. 
The operation which she performed with her own hands, 
she said did not produce pain. 

For further satisfaction, I cut around one of her teem 
with a gum lancet while she was in the somnambulic state, 



188 APPENDIX. 

and placed a pair of extracting instruments upon the tooth, 
and pulled quite hard, giving it a rotary motion with as 
much force as the tooth would bear without starting it. I 
asked her if what I had done did not hurt. She said she 
did not feel it, for I had not pulled any. She then took up 
the instrument which I had laid down, and wished to ex- 
tract the tooth herself. I placed the instrument upon her 
tooth, when she seized it with both hands, and pulled with 
so much force that I was obliged to exert my strength to 
prevent her from starting it. The instrument bore so hard 
upon the tooth and gums as to start the blood. She still 
said she felt no pain, and she certainly showed no indica- 
tions of it. She bore the whole without changing counten- 
ance or moving a muscle that indicated pain. 

I think I could have extracted either of her teeth without 
her being sensible of pain, but did not wish to sacrifice a 
tooth to gratify curiosity. 

When she was in my office the first time, I had occasion 
to take an artificial tooth from a small box in a closet, which 
had been shut, and into which she could not have looked 
had she been awake, and in the chair where she then was. 
She immediately told me that I had taken it from a box in 
the closet, and rising up she carried it back to trie same box, 
although there were several others filled with the same sort 
of teeth. 

Yours respectfully, 

W. T. ESTEN. 



Note 36. 

PROM MR. AMERICUS V. POTTER. 

Saratoga Springs, Sept. 14, 1837. 

Dear Sir — I embrace the first opportunity to give you 
the information you asked in regard to the effects of mag- 
netism upon men. I am not prepared to speak positively 



APPENDIX. 189 



about the relative susceptibility of magnetism in the two 
sexes, as I have attempted to magnetize but few men ; yet 
I think them the most difficult to magnetize. I speak of 
susceptibility, because I believe the action depends as much 
upon a certain constitutional adaptation, as upon the health 
of the subject. 

I magnetized xMr. Angell, a gentleman of Providence, of 
about twenty-five, in good health, of a very active and 
rather nervous temperament. At the first sitting, I closed 
his eyes in about five minutes. Afterwards I found no dif- 
ficulty in doing it in about two, so that he could not open 
them. I have done it more than once at the distance of 
half a mile. I was never able to get him beyond this state, 
although I magnetized him six or eight times for the purpose. 
In five minutes, at the first sitting, I closed a gentleman's 
eyes, (Mr. Rogers, Attorney,) at Saratoga Springs, so that 
he could not open them. I have not attempted since. 

In ordinary cases, when we wish to convince a man of 
fbe truth of any thing, we desire and try to open his eyes. 
But in this case, you will perceive I have taken a course 
clean contrary. I convinced Mr. Rogers of my magnetic 
power by closing his eyes in spite of his teeth. To tell the 
truth, he yielded with a good grace, and he is now firm in 
the faith. I trust no witling will infer from this that we 
mean to blind people merely to impose upon their imagina- 
tions, or that Mr. Rogers rushed blindly into a belief in 
magnetism, without seeing a reason for his sudden conversion. 
After a sitting of about twenty minutes with a young 
man of our city, I found him unable to raise his hand or 
even speak, with evident symptoms of somnambulism, al- 
though he was not asleep. After two more sittings of about 
the same time, he progressed very sensibly, so much so that 
I could act considerably upon the muscles of his arm ; yet 
I think it would take two or three more sittings to make 
this a perfect case. His health appears to be good, but 
he has a very slender constitution. 

At the solicitation of a gentleman at Newport, I magnet- 
ized a very active colored man, a waiter at the Bellevue 
Hotel, of strong constitution and excellent health. In about 



190 APPENDIX, 



forty minutes, he was unable to speak or move. I raised 
and extended his arm at an elevation of about thirty degrees, 
and kept it there at will for more than fifteen minutes ; al- 
though I asked him at several different times to drop his 
arm, he could not do it, unaccompanied by my will. When 
the influence was thrown off, he did not know that his arm 
had been moved. I saw symptoms of somnambulism, but 
had no further opportunity to continue the experiments. 
This man had never heard of magnetism before. No other 
case occurs to my mind, worth mentioning at this time.* 

On my passage from Providence to this place, by the 
carelessness of the driver who was to take me at Spring- 
field, I was left, and obliged to wait for the next day's stage. 
Having seen an account, some four or five years since, of a 
girl who was a natural somnambulist at that place, I deter- 
mined to see her if she was to be found. I learned that 
Dr. Belden was her physician at the time. I called upon 
the Doctor, and stated my business. He received me very 
courteously, and was perfectly willing to give me any in- 
formation. On my declaring it to be my conviction that I 
could produce the same phenomena by magnetization, which 
she formerly exhibited in a natural way, he expressed his 
entire unbelief, yet was willing I should try the experiment, 
with the young lady's consent. 

I found her to be a girl about the age of nineteen, and 
having the appearance of the most perfect health. I sat 
down before her, holding her thumbs, and in four minutes 
she was entirely insensible to all external objects.! 

Dr. Belden informed me that the appearance of the girl 
was the same as formerly when in that state, except that 
she is much more calm. There was some difficulty m 
waking her. He appeared to express his conviction of the 
power of magnetism from the singular and striking effect 
produced in this case. 



* Since this letter was written, Mr. Potter has magnetized sev- 
al men. 
t In a le 
confirmed. 



eral men. 

t In a letter from Dr. Belden to the translator, this statement is 



APPENDIX. 191 



Since my arrival here I have been solicited to prove the 
existence of the magnetic power by magnetizing various in- 
dividuals. Among them was Mrs. F****, about twenty- 
five years old, light complexion, hair and eyes, the daughter 
of Judge Cowing. She had been subject to tic douloureux, 
but was not afflicted with it at the time. She possesses a 
fine mind, and a cultivated taste. At the first sitting of 
twenty minutes, she experienced a sense of numbness. At 
the second sitting, the next day, in thirty minutes a state of 
tranquillity was induced, and a total loss of muscular power. 
At the third, the above symptoms were much increased. 

The fourth sitting was at the house of Mr. J. W. West- 
cott. In twenty minutes her eyes were closed, and she 
obeyed a mental request, by raising her hand several times. 
From this state she passed into the most perfect ecstasy, 
with violent and energetic action of the hands, and the mus- 
cles of her face, frequently exclaiming, " O what thoughts ! 
if I could only clothe them in words !" The motion of her 
hands and the changes of her expression were as if she were 
acting some part in a tragedy. Sometimes she burst into 
violent screams of laughter. "After throwing off the influ- 
ence, she continued in the same state for about an hour, till 
it gradually wore off, and she was enabled to go home. Be- 
fore it wore off, her eyes being wide open, she continued 
the motions of the hands, and watched them without being 
able to stop them, conversing at the same time upon other 
subjects. She sat down and played upon the piano, with- 
out experiencing any difficulty ; but as soon as she left off 
playing, the motions returned, though less violently. 

The next sitting was attended with the same results, but 
of much shorter duration. Mr. Westcott and lady and four 
or five others were present. 

My next patient was Miss Maria Read, sixteen years of 
age the fourth of July last, under the medical attendance of 
Dr. Steele. I understood from Dr. Allen, that she had suf- 
fered a total prostration of strength, and great nervousness, 
so that she could not hold any thing in her hand. She was 
troubled moreover with an obstruction, and a loss of appe- 
tite. Dark complexion and eyes. 



192 APPENDIX. 

In twenty minutes she went into a magnetic state, re- 
sembling natural sleep. She would not answer the ques- 
tions of others or of myself. Sometimes she would answer 
me in a low whisper. Other persons could rouse her by a 
noise, but not by speaking to her. She was magnetized 
once a clay for ten or fifteen days. The effect upon her, 
as I am informed by her mother and herself, is a re-estab- 
lishment of the strength of her nerves, and an improvement 
in her general health. 

At Saratoga, I put the lady of General Smith asleep in 
fifteen minutes. For sometime she was unable to speak ; 
but when I commenced waking her, she requested me to let 
her remain in that state, because she felt " so happy." At 
one o'clock, she wished to remain until dinner time, which 
was at two. 

I then asked her husband to inform me at two o'clock if 
every thing was not right. When the bell rang for dinner, 
General Smith went to her room, took Mrs. S. by the hand, 
and went down to the table, where she was immediately 
taken ill. He went back with her to her room, seated her, 
and returned, to the table. At three o'clock, he came to 
her room, and found her on the floor, nearly senseless, quite 
deranged, and suffering the most excruciating pain in the 
head, stomach, and bowels. He placed her upon the bed, 
and applied frictions over the chest and limbs, without giv- 
ing relief. Although it roused her a little, she remained in 
the same state until seven o'clock, when* Mr. Hubbard 
chanced to meet me, and informed me that Mrs. S. was 
dangerously ill ; but he did not ascribe it to magnetism. I 
went forthwith to her room, where I found her as above 
described. I placed one hand upon her forehead, and the 
other upon her waist, and in ^.ve minutes she was entirely 
restored. General Smith should have informed me, as I 
had particularly requested him to, as soon as she was taken 
ill at dinner time. 

October 7th, Albany. Miss S******, fair complexion, 
hair and eyes. I drew my hand for two minutes from the 
shoulder of the left arm to the ends of the fingers, slightly 
touching them. She complained of great sense of weakness 



APPENDIX. 193 



in the arm. On the next Monday, at nine o clock in tne 
morning, there was a pain in the muscle of the left fore 
arm. This had continued from the time I had magnetized 
it on Saturday ; so that she was not able to raise any small 
weight or to use it. I restored the arm in five minutes, af- 
ter a continued paralysis of thirty-six hours. 

While in Albany, I got acquainted with Dr. March, who, 
as you well know, lectures on anatomy, and whose anatom- 
ical collection, by the by, is an exceedingly fine one. My 
friend, Mr. G., threw Dr. March's little daughter, seven 
years old, into a magnetic sleep in about ten minutes, with- 
out touching her, and without using the manipulations, lo 
ascertain what effect could be produced at a distance, Mr. 
G. and professor McKee being at the temperance hotel, and 
Dr. March being with the little girl at his own house, about 
fifty rods distant, he put her into somnambulism in five 

minutes. . . 

This was only the fourth time of magnetizing her ; 

and she not only did not know of the attempt, but Dr. 

March kept her reading. She dropped her book and fell 

asleep. . . 

A. K. Hadley, Esq. and another gentleman, a physician, 

both from Troy, were present. 

She has since been magnetized in the presence of Drs. 
James and George McNaughton, Dr. Peck, and about 
twenty others, of the first respectability. Dr. March put 
her to sleep easily. 

Mr. G. also magnetized Mr. John Perry, in the presence 
of Governor Marcy, Mr. Attorney-General Butler, and sev- 
eral physicians, among whom was Dr. March. Sitting at 
the distance of six feet from Mr. Perry, he began to mag- 
netize him mentally. In five minutes his eyes were set 
wide open, but he took no notice of things. In seven min- 
utes he closed them, and began to tremble nervously and 
his whole frame to shake. The convulsions were violent, 
stamping and striking with his fists, and they continued 
about half an hour. By placing the hand upon the bare 
neck and breast, and the upper part of the stomach, he 



B 



1^4 APPENDIX. 

finally succeeded in waking him, after carrying him out into 
the street.* 

At the second sitting, I threw him into the same state, in 
presence of professor McKee and Dr. March, and the ef- 
fects were about the same. When spoken to, he would not 
answer. He is an active, healthy, intelligent young man. 

Judge Spreicker was also magnetized four times. He 
was so much affected as not to be able to answer any one 
but Mr. G. The judge was an unbeliever even after see- 
ing a case of somnambulism. He is now ready to testify 
to the power of this agent. 

At the house of Rev. Mr. Wycoff, in the presence of the 
Principal of the Female Academy, Dr. James McNaughton, 
and others, I magnetized Miss Van N., about seventeen 
years of age ; light hair, light eyes, and good health through 
life. She settled down from mirth and laughter, in five 
minutes, to a vacant stare, without winking. In a few 
minutes more, she closed her eyes. There was a slight 
trembling of the frame. In fifteen minutes she would an- 
swer no one but myself. She was awaked by reversed 
motions in thirty seconds. 

Yours, 

AMERICUS V. POTTER. 
Mr. Thomas C. Hartshorn. 



* Mesrner maintained that these convulsions were useful. He 
endeavored to produce them, and the great power with which he 
was endued was thus exhibited in an extraordinary degree. Expe- 
rience, however, has shown that they are sometimes attended with 
effects which are bad, though neither fatal nor permanent. At 
present the magnetizers use their influence soothingly, and find its 
effects salutary. Then* patients are however sometimes thrown in- 
to convulsions when the action is too great, or not sustained by firm- 
ness of purpose. The Messrs. Potter are abundantly able to prove 
the existence of the magnetic power. But to ascertain the true 
value of it as a means of alleviating and curing the sick, demands 
incessant practice. They have been several times successfully em- 
ployed by physicians in this city to magnetize their patients. 



APPENDIX. 195 

Note 37.— Page 185. 

Deleuze says that the influence of the magnetizer will be 
felt even in the waking state. I have evidence of a very 
curious nature in proof of this assertion. 

Every one who takes the true way to convince himself 
of the existence of the agent called magnetism, that is, by 
attempting the proofs on individuals whose state of health 
he desires to benefit, will find nothing more common than 
this influence over somnambulists. Georget seems not to 
have known this, for he might have prevented the repug- 
nance which his patients manifested when they were served 
with moxas and blisters of their own prescription. The 
reader is referred to the letter of Dr. Robbins at the twenty- 
eighth note, for some curious results. In a subsequent 
letter that gentleman states that he does not find the plan 
equally efficacious with all. An inveterate attachment to 
tobacco in its various shapes, has been entirely destroyed, 
though the patient, a young medical student of about twenty 
years of age, knew nothing of the cause of it while in the 
ordinary state. Many weeks have elapsed, but I am in- 
formed that the attachment has not yet revived. 

It is not therefore so extraordinary that any article of 
food, when magnetized with the design of changing its taste, 
and presented to the somnambulist, should retain its induced 
qualities long after he is awakened from sleep. Any per- 
son who is merely put in communication with one, may do 
this to his own satisfaction, without saying a word of his 
intention even to the patient. I have tried this successfully, 
changing a piece of wheat bread into cake, a part of which 
was eaten immediately and pronounced to be cake, and the 
next day the rest was eaten while the patient, who is blind, 
was in the ordinary state, and did not know that she had had 
the piece in her hand. How far the experiment would suc- 
ceed with one who possesses vision, I have never yet availed 
myself of my opportunities to ascertain. I have in the 
same manner imparted a peculiar taste to water. 

Dr. Robbins has tried experiments of the same kind. 
One of these he relates in a recent note to me, which ex- 



196 APPENDIX. 

hibits this power of transfusing tastes in a very striking de- 
gree. He gave one of his somnambulists a clove to eat, 
and told her to recollect after waking that she had eaten a 
piece of cinnamon. On waking she had some of it remain- 
ing in her mouth, and thought it was in reality cinnamon, 
while another clove which she eat had its proper taste. At 
another time, when she was asleep, he gave her a piece of 
aloes, not telling her what it was* and told her to have it 
taste on her awaking like liquorice. Observing it upon the 
table after waking, she mistook it for opium ; but on being 
told to taste it, she did so, and recognised at once the naus- 
eous sweet of liquorice. Such is one of the powers of this 
unknown agent which we call magnetism. It changes the 
most disgusting bitter in the whole materia medica into the 
most intense sweet. If any one thinks these experiments 
were not made with sufficient care, it is easy for him to 
repeat them in many ways, if he can obtain the privilege 
of being put in communication with a somnambulist. 

There is another power closely allied to this which is no 
less astonishing. You can induce a desire for a particular 
species of foqd at a particular hour of the day. A trial of 
this was recently made by Dr. Cleveland, of Pawtuxet. 
The patient, without knowing any thing about the influence 
which had been exerted the day before, called for the sev- 
eral articles which had been specified for each of the three 
daily meals. The patient's want of appetite for several 
weeks in succession was the reason for pursuing this course, 
and it was completely successful. 

Dr. Cleveland once called upon another of his patients, 
who enjoyed a good appetite and was anticipating a choice 
article of food for dinner. He advised her to sleep an hour 
before dinner ; and while she was in the magnetic sleep, he 
told her that she must not eat of the dish she was antici- 
pating, but of another one which he specified. On her 
awaking, no one being present but the nurse, who knew the 
Doctor's intention, she refused to partake of the viand, 
though it was urged upon her as being well prepared and 
palatable, but she called for the substituted food, on which 



AlTENDiX. 197 

she dined with relish, without suspecting the cause of the 
change wrought in her appetite. 

Dr. Cleveland has also succeeded in several other exper- 
iments of a highly useful nature, the particulars of which 
I have in some letters from him which are now before me. 
One of these was to induce a spirit of charitable feeling 
towards an individual who had rendered himself an object 
of the patient's hatred and indignation. Thus far the spirit 
of forgiveness still prevails, although the somnambulist 
knows nothing about the influence exerted by the magneti- 
zer to produce this happy result. 

Some other experiments have been made by him upon 
several somnambulists to excite cheerfulness, hope, and or- 
der, respectively; which were attended with success the 
most complete. 

I state these things not to excite the marvellousness of 
the reader, but with the design of enforcing the precepts of 
Deleuze, wherein, to the minds of men who are not suffi- 
ciently acquainted with the subject, he seems to be over 
cautious ; for instance, in the chapter on somnambulism, 
and especially in his chapter on the choice of a magnetizer. 
That one could take advantage of the magnetic sleep, in 
some instances, to subserve an evil purpose, seems now to 
me unquestionable. But the physician has drugs of most 
potent effect, a drop or two of which would be immediate 
in its action, whether the recipient be in good or in bad 
health ; while by the aid of magnetism, the process is slow, 
uncertain, and tedious, and seldem effective on persons who 
are not already prostrated by disease. The physician is 
one on whom we bestow our confidence in an especial man- 
ner, and therefore we are careful in the first place to choose 
one on whom we can depend. Having regard not wholly 
to his skill, but to certain qualities of the head and the heart 
which vindicate our choice. If the physician we have 
chosen, proposes to try magnetism in aid of his remedies, 
we do not require the exertion of greater confidence than 
we already repose in him, if we have been governed by the 
right motive, and have made no mistake, in our choice. 
He is the proper person to employ this agent, provided he 

R* 



108 APPENDIX. 

is in good health, and has the good sense to make a trial in 
spite of his prepossessions against it. 

Yet there are certain requisites in a magnetizer, which 
we do not find in some physicians. I cannot do better than 
to recommend the reading of the two chapters referred to 
above. The principles advanced in them derive support 
from the facts embraced in this note, and from the experi- 
ence of many physicians with whom I have conversed. 
Many men of science are heartily engaged in the investiga- 
tion, not, I trust, with partisan feelings, but with the sincere 
desire of doing good ; and at this very time, though the first 
excitement is nearly over, there are more somnambulists 
and more patients under treatment than at any previous 
period. They may be stated at several hundreds in this 
and the adjoining States. The number of somnambulists 
referred to in this appendix is upwards of sixty, leaving out 
those who are merely thrown into the magnetic state, who 
are much more numerous. 



CONTENTS. 



Introduction, 3 

CHAPTER I. 

General Views and Principles, 9 

CHAPTER II. 

Of the Processes, 19 

Meaning of being in communication, 23 

To magnetize a patient who is in bed, . . . .25 

Processes not indifferent, 31 

Case of H***, .34 

M. le Chevalier de Barbarin, 35 

CHAPTER III. ' 

Of the Effects, and their Indications, .... 37 

When you should not magnetize, 43 

Convulsive motions produced, 46 

Case of Oudin, 51 

CHAPTER IV. 

Of Somnambulism, and its Uses, 55 

Danger in charging the head much, 59 

Moral influence over somnambulists, .... 64 

Susceptibility of somnambulists, 67 

Prescribe remedies for themselves, 71 

Case at the Saltpetriere Hospital, 79 

How to wake the patient, 81 

Insensibility of somnambulists, 84 

Magnetic exaltation, 85 

Retracing the ideas of infancy, 92 



200 CONTENTS. 

How to test their prescriptions, 102 

Dr. Bertrand's work, 104 

CHAPTER V. 

Of Precaution in the Choice of a Magnetizer, . . 107 

Madame Champon de Montaux, ..... 109 

To magnetize one's self, . . . . . . 116 

The Marquis de Puysegur and his valet, . . . .119 

Prodigious power of some magnetizers, .... 120 

Le Compte de G***s, 121 

M. N***'s clinic, 123 

CHAPTER VI. 

Of the Application of Magnetism to Diseases, and its Con- 
nexion with Medicine, 127 

Rules for practice, B 131 

Magnetism not a specific for all diseases, . . . .133 

Inflammation of the stomach, ..... 140 

Case of M. Boismarsas, 141 

Inveterate diseases, 144 

Dropsy ; glandular enlargements, 146 

Scrofula. — Ulcers, a case, ...... 147 

Asthma. — Nervous diseases, &c 150 

Epilepsy, 151 

Histeria and hypochondria, 154 

Paralysis, sixty cases mentioned, 155 

Mental alienation, 156 

Diseases of women, 157 

Rheumatism, 160 

Diseases of the eye, 162 

Deafness. — Various diseases, . . . . . . 164 

Experiment of M. Thiriat, 166 

Children easily affected, 167 

Curvature of the spine, . . . . . . . 168 

Testimony of two hundred and fifty physicians mentioned, 169 

Tic douloureux, 171 

Acting at a distance, . . . ... . . 173 

Vertigo and chorea, 176 



CONTENTS. 201 

CHAPTER VII. 

Of the Inconveniences, Abuses, and Dangers of Magnetism, 179 

Of the moral dangers, how avoided, . 180 

Of the physical dangers, how avoided, .... 187 

Gutta serena ; interrupted treatment, .... 

1 Qm 
Health essential to the magnetizer, 

He may communicate disease, . . . • 

Somnambulism not to be prolonged, , . . • • 
Avoid having too much confidence in your somnambulists, 199 
Somnambulists by profession, . " 

Consulting for absent persons. 

Put at fault by skeptics, 

How to be sustained, 

Rules for consulting them, 

Natural somnambulism, 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Of the Means of Developing in Ourselves the Magnetic 

Faculties, 

Perceiving the seat of diseases, * 

Effects upon the magnetizer, 

De Lausanne's directions, 

Magnetic currents, 

Babst, 

CHAPTER IX. 

Of the Accessory Means of Increasing the Magnetic Ac 

TION, AND OF THOSE BY WHICH THE DlRECT ACTION IS SUP- 

PLIED ' 2 33 

Magnetized water, " 

Reservoirs, how constructed, 

24-2 
The chain, how formed, 

CHAPTER X. 

Of the Studies by which a Person may Perfect Himself in 

a Knowledge of Magnetism, 245 

Directions to magnetizers, 

Principles of Puysegur, 



202 



CONTENTS. 



APPENDIX. 

Note 1.— Life of Deleuze. His reputation as a man. . . 1 

Note 2.— Letter from Charles Poyen de St. Sauveur. . . 8 
Note 3.— Scene in a school-room. Children possess the power 
of magnetizing. Three instances related by the translator, 
Somnambulism at the first trial without manipulation. . 9 
Note 4.— Power over the imagination. Various experiments. 

Magnetized water 22 

Note 5. —Clairvoyance. Explanation of the term. In what 
manner some somnambulists examine objects. Reading a 
sealed letter. Note from Mr. Isaac Thurber. Experiment 
by a young lady. Experiment by the translator. Extract 
from the Salem Gazette. A somnambulist examines one 
of Dr. B.'s patients. Post mortem examination. Note 

from Dr. B 29 

Note 6.— -Degree of control exercised over somnambulists by 

the magnetizer # oq 

Note 7.— Coincidence of experience in this country and in Eu- 
rope in relation to the magnetic practice. . .21 
Note 8.— Awaking a somnambulist. Men more eager to wit- 
ness the curious phenomena of magnetism, than to see its 

utility tested 91 

Note 9.— Paralysis produced in somnambulism by the volition 
of the magnetizer. In the natural state by manipulation. 
Letter from Dr. Webb. Notice of Gassner. Exorcism. 

Mesmer's extraordinary power 22 

Note 10.— Cutting out a cancer, the patient being in a som- 
nambulic state. Insensibility to pain 27 

Note ll.-Letter from Dr. Capron. Case of Miss BrackeU. 
Blindness. Curious magnetic phenomena. Statement of 
Mr. Henry Hopkins. Of Mr. Jesse Metcalf. ... 30 
Note 12.-Experiments by M. B. L. Magnetizing at a distance.' 37 
Note 13. -Experiments by Mr. A. V.Potter. Notions of time. 47 
Note 14.— Somnambulism. Pliny. Hermotimus Clazomenius. 
EliYarnall. The magnetizer. Examining the sick. Ex. 
tract from the Marquis de Puysegur. ... 51 



CONTENTS. 203 

Note 15. — Travelling somnambulists. Mistakes and illusions. 
Letter from Dr. Hartshorn. From Rev. Mr. Farley. 

From Dr. John Flint 57 

Note 16. — Reading sealed letters. Note from Dr. Capron. . 67 

Note 17. — Dexterity of somnambulists 68 

Note 18. — Instance of wit 69 

Note 19.— -Letter from Lafayette to Washington. . . 69 

Note 20. — Effects upon superstition 70 

Note 21. — Transmission of pain. 72 

Note 22. — The fluid. Argument. Paralysis. . .73 

Note 23.— Scrofula. Mr. Daniel Greene. ... 76 

Note 24. — Epilepsy. Communication at a distance. . . 76 
Note 25. — Blindness. M. Hebert. Marchioness des Rousses. 

Prevision. Sight at a distance 78 

Note 26. — Writing and reading in somnambulism. . .87 

Note 27. — Letters from physicians. Case of nervous affection. 
Tic douloureux. Liver complaint. Hypochondriasis. Mag. 
netization at a distance. Somnambulic examinations of 
the sick. Case of Eleazer Barrett. Paralysis. Miss Mc- 
Intyre. Local action. Curing paralysis in two instances 
without somnolence. Inducing functional disease. Cu- 
taneous disease. Mrs. Fern. Fever and ague. Affection 
of the head, with fever. Epilepsy. Spasmodic cough. 
Toothache. Bowel pains. Affection of the hip and back. 

Neuralgia. Blindness. 88 

Note 28. — Letter from Dr. Robbins on the correction of the 

habits of somnambulists. 106 

Note 29. — Operations in dentistry by Dr. Esten, Dr. Harwood, 

and Dr. Washburn, on persons in somnambulism. . 110 
Note 30. — Letter from E. L. Frothingham, Esq. From Mons. 
Bagard. From Rev. E. B. Hall. Principles by which this 
subject should be examined. Improbability of deception. 
Reality of the magnetic sleep. Experiments in distant and 
near clairvoyance. From the Rev. Mr. Kent. Influence 
upon the imagination. Distant somnambulic visit. From 
Mr. Joseph Harrington, Jr. From Mr. Frederic S. Church. 
Distant clairvoyance . .114 



204 CONTENTS. 

Note 31.— Account of Georget. Foreknowledge of organic 

action. Somnambulic prescriptions. ... 150 

Note 32,— From Moses B. Lockwood. Case of croup. Mag- 
netizing without the patient's knowledge by volition. Tra- 
cing the magnetizer 155 

Note 33.— Letters from physicians. From Dr. Cutter. Neu- 
ralgia. Delirium tremens ; case of Mr. L. Bronchitis. 
Dyspepsia and spinal irritation. Partial paralysis. Head- 
ache and dyspepsia. Hepatitis and cephalalgia. Inflamma- ? 
tion. Magnetizer should be acquainted with anatomy. 
Paralysis. From Dr. Cleveland. Inflammation of the 
chest. Case of scrofulous affection. From Dr. Utley. 
Details of a curious case. From Dr. Toothaker. Idiocy. 
Clairvoyance. Examining the sick. Various cases. From 
Mons. Bugard. Tic douloureux, several cases. Demol- 
ishing skepticism. From Dr. Haskell. Magnetism to be 
used only as a remedial agent. . . . . ■ 157 

Note 34. — Seeing through opaque substances. Letter from 
Isaac Thurber, Esq. From Mr. George Hunt. From Dr. 
Knox/ 180 

Note 35.— Insensibility to pain. Letter from Dr. Esten. . 186 
Note 36.— Letter from Mr. A. V. Potter. Various experiments 

at. Albany and Saratoga. . . . • • 188 

Note 37. — Post-somnambulic influence. Curious proofs. Choice 

of physicians and magnetizers 195 



Errata.— At the 49th page of the Appendix, for vivacity, read 
veracity. 

At the 73d page, in the third and eleventh line from the bottom, 
for delusion, read illusion. 

The statement in note twenty-six, is incorrect. Miss B. does not 
write during somnambulism. A friend, on whose authority I relied, 
misunderstood. 








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